Kabaddi World Cup: Major upset in the opening match, Korea stuns India

Ahmedabad: In a major upset and embarrassing loss for hosts and defending champion India, Korea today defeated them in closely fought opening match of the Kabaddi World Cup 2016 here by 34-32.

This is first ever win of Korean team over India in any match.

In the second match of the evening last time runners up Iran easily defeated the USA by a huge margin of 52-15.

In the first match Korea was way behind India till the halftime but with many quick raid points in the second half it finally won the breathtaking match leaving the hosts in big embarrassment in front of home crowd in fully packed arena.
At one time India was leading by 24-19 which later narrowed down to 29-26 the Korea took lead by 30-29 and India equaled it 30-30 but with four more points in the last few minutes ‘inexperienced’ Koreans defeated ‘indefatigable’ India, which is called the superpower of the game.
The hero of Korean win was its player Jang Kun Lee who also plays in Indian Pro Kabaddi league. Jang Lee produced a terrific performance in the last two minutes to turn the game in his team’s favour. He scored 10 points alone. Dong Jion Lee scored six and Young Chong 5.
From home side captain Anup Kumar was the top scorer with 8 points. Star attacker Mandip Chhillar could get only five for the team while Rahul Chaudhary and Pradip Narwal got 3 each. Dharmraj Cherathalan and Ajay Thakur scored 2 each.
It was tense last few minutes for the Indian team as Korea fought back on multiple occasions to reduce the deficit. Jang Kun Lee then produced a brilliant super raid in the 39 th minute as Korea tied the game at 30-30. Anup Kumar scored with a raid in the last minute but Jang Kun Lee scored two more points to lead 32-31. Korea held their nerve in the dying seconds and scored a remarkable upset to win 34-32.

In the points tally with this win Korea has opened its account with five points for the win while India got 1.

India, which has won both the editions of world cup held so far, will take on Australia tomorrow in its second match which has now become crucial after this loss.

India Captain Anup Kumar later said that the attack as well as defence of the team was not up to mark.
12 Kabaddi teams from around the world including India, USA, England, Australia, Iran, Poland, Bangladesh, South Korea, Thailand, Japan and Kenya are participating in the event.
The final will be played on October 22.

Earlier the tournament being played at the Transstadia the arena, was inaugurated by Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

Pro Kabaddi team Jaipur Pink Panthers owner and avid Kabaddi lover actor Abhishek Bachchan was also present during the match but the whole area fell silent after the sensational defeat of the host team.

The second match on the opening day between last time runners up Iran and the USA was easily won by the Persian team.

DeshGujarat