Seasoned goalkeeper Nina Shil dished out a heroic defence but India narrowly lost 30-32 to Iran in their second Group B match at the 20th Asian Women’s Handball Championship here on Wednesday.

Drawing from her considerable experience at the top level, Shalini Thakur tip-toed her way past a rigid Iran defence to open the scoring for India with a rousing finish.

Shortly after, Bhawana Sharma, India’s player-of-the-match from their win against Hong Kong, scored from the penalty spot, to give the hosts the start they desired.

The fast opening to the game set the stage for an exciting first half, peppered with gritty challenges and smashing finishes at both ends.

Amid the action, India’s revolving goalkeepers, the seasoned Nina Shil and captain Diksha Kumari, both gold medallists from the SAF Games, thwarted attack after Iranian attack, ensuring that the two teams headed into the break neck-and-neck.

Nina’s robust defence of her goal kept Iran at bay after the restart, providing a steady platform for the Indian attackers to eat into their opponents’ lead.

Shuffling from side to side, and extracting the best use of the pivot players, India opened the Iran backline on several occasions, and took the match down to the wire, before falling to a narrow loss.

India will now look to bounce back when they take on Japan in their final group game of the tournament on Friday.

In the opening match of the day, heavyweights China bounced back from their defeat to Kazakhstan with a resounding 47-10 win over Singapore, with Zhang Pingping claiming the player-of-the-match honours.

Later, Japan continued their positive start to the tournament with a thumping 47-6 win over Singapore to take a significant step toward the semi-finals.

Reigning champions South Korea met Kazakhstan in the battle of former champions in match three. The two went toe-to-toe before the imposing South Korea ran away 30-20 victors.

Presented by the World Handball League and organised by the Asian Handball Federation, India is hosting the tournament for the first time at the Indira Gandhi Arena, New Delhi, from December 3-10.