Asian Kabaddi Championship: India beat Iran 33-28 to enter final

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Busan (South Korea). India entered the final of the Asian Kabaddi Championship with a narrow 33-28 win over Iran at the Dong-ee Institute of Technology Seokdang Cultural Center here on Thursday. With the win over Iran, India are firmly on top. This is India’s fourth consecutive win.

The Indian men’s kabaddi team will play Hong Kong on Friday in their last league stage match before the final to be held on the same day.

After the conclusion of the league stage, the top two teams will play the final. India’s captain Pawan Sehrawat led the team from the front and scored 16 out of 33 points for India.

Both India and Iran made a cautious start to the contest and went head-to-head in the first quarter. Aslam Inamdar earned a 2-point raid in the 11th minute. Later, India all-out Iran to increase their lead to 11-5.

Sehrawat extended his lead to 17-7 with four minutes remaining in the first half, dodging two Iranian defenders. Iranian defenders used a super tackle on Inamdar to end the first half 19-9.

Defending Asian Games champions Iran came back brilliantly after the break to all-out India, reducing the margin to four points at 26-22 with six minutes to spare.

A super tackle by India with 30 seconds left in the match followed by a two-point raid by Arjun Deshwal helped India win a thrilling match with a scoreline of 33-28 and continue their unbeaten run in the tournament.

India has won seven of the eight Asian Kabaddi Championship editions played so far, while Iran won the title once in 2003.

(IANS)

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