The Indian Kabaddi men's team are on cloud nine after registering an emphatic victory over their arch nemesis Pakistan in the South Asian Games in Nepal. The team led by the charismatic Deepak Niwas Hooda were resilient and displayed immense structure while defending and looked ruthless in their raiding pursuits.
The Indian team went in with an offensive approach with raiding duties taken care by Pawan Sehrawat and Naveen Kumar while Nitesh Kumar and Vishal Bharadwaj took care of the defence along with the invaluable help of Sunil Kumar and Parvesh Bhainswal.
India were in complete control throughout the match as they thwarted all the raiding advances made by the sublime raiders of Pakistan, notably Mudassir Shah and Nadim Warraich. However, Pakistan's defence was also unable to keep their neighbours at bay as Pawan Sehrawat’s agility proved too much of a burden for their leaky defence. At the end of the first half, Pakistan were trailing 9-29.
The incessant raids from the Indian contingent continued in the second half as well with Pawan leading the charge and scoring quickly and more freely. Although, Pakistan displayed some signs of a coming back into the game but the dying moments of the game garnered favourable results for India with the opponents failing to score even a solo point.
The full-time score was 49-22 and India asserted their dominance in style by declaring their intent of winning the gold medal once again.
India beat Pakistan in yet another game, the Indian Men's Kabaddi team beat them convincingly in #SouthAsianGames2019 #PirateHamla #ProKabbadi #INDvPAK #INDvsPAK #Kabaddi pic.twitter.com/mqUgsqSQBN
— Patna Pirates (@PatnaPirates) December 6, 2019
In the other encounter, Nepal fell apart against a charged-up Sri Lankan side which saw the hosts enduring a 12-point margin difference as the match ended 22-34 in favour of the island nation. Due to their third consecutive loss, Nepal are now out of the race for the knockout spots.
Women’s team in the final
The Indian Women’s Kabaddi team got the better of hosts Nepal and eased through the game comfortably. The preliminary stages of Women’s Kabaddi have finally concluded with India and Nepal having qualified for the gold medal match to be played on December 9. This will be a repeat of the match concluded today between the two nations where Nepal will be eyeing for a revenge to even the scores in the final.
Ritu Negi and Harvinder Kaur continues to be India’s biggest strength with the raiding responsibilities lying on the shoulders of Pushpa and Sakshi Kumari.
Feature image courtesy: Twitter/ @ProKabaddi
