Kabaddi World Cup: India thrashes England to make it to Semifinals

Ahmedabad: India thrashed England by 69-18 today and advanced to the semifinals of the Kabaddi world cup while Kenya dumped USA 74-19 keeping their hopes alive to make it to the last four.

Apart from Defending Champion India, Korea is already in the semis from Group A. Last times runners up Iran has made it to the semis from Group B while the picture of the fourth team in the semis would be clear after the Japan vs Thailand match on the last day of the league round tomorrow.
With today’s big win, Kenya’s hope to make it to the semis are alive. USA remained winless in the tournament.
Kenya are second in Group B but their fate rests in Japan’s hands who play Thailand tomorrow. If Japan beat Thailand then Kenya will go through to the semi finals where they will
face Iran. If Thailand wins then they will make it to the semi finals.
In the second match of the day today India entered semi finals with a comfortable win.
In its 69-18 win over England, Pardeep Narwal scored 13 points while Ajay Thakur scored 11 points as India made full use of their squad depth to notch a comfortable win and ended their group campaign on a high. The crowd at the TransStadia arena in Ahmedabad was in for a treat as India’s dream team put on a spectacular show.
After suffering a shock defeat in their opening match against Republic of Korea, India bounced back in style and finished the group matches with a whopping score difference of 174. England finished fourth in Group A with 10 points.

England made a bright start as skipper Someshwar Kalia scored two points in the first minute to lead 2-1. Sandeep Narwal scored with a super raid in the third minute as India led 5-2. Ajay Thakur scored with a two-point raid in the fifth minute as India led 8-3 and reduced England to just two men. India inflicted the first all out of the match in the sixth minute to lead 12-3. India’s star raider Pardeep Narwal scored his first points in the seventh minute to give India 14-3 lead. Keshav Gupta scored with a two-point read in the 10 th minute as England trailed 5-17.

Sandeep Narwal was in great raiding form as he scored six points in 13 minutes. India inflicted second all out in the 13 th minute to lead 24-5. England defence let them down as they failed to score a single point in the first 15 minutes. India inflicted another all out in the 16 th minute as India took a commanding 33-5 lead. Such was India’s dominance that they went on a 20-0 run in eight minutes to lead 37-5 after 18 minutes. Pardeep Narwal attained a super 10 in the first half whereas Surjeet got a high five as India totally outclassed England. India inflicted fourth all out in the 20 th minute to lead 45-6 at the end of the first half.

India brought on five substitutes in the second half, including Rahul Chaudhari, to make use of their squad. Nitin Tomar scored two points in the 23 rd minute as India led 49- 7. England were still looking for their first tackle point and their star raider Tope Adewalure struggled to get raid points. India inflicted another all out in the 28 th minute to lead 57-8. Adewalure scored his first raid point in the 30 th minute as England trailed 9-58.

India took their foot off the gas in the second half but it was still a lot for England to handle. Adewalure scored his second point and became the first man to score 50 points in the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup. With less than five minutes to go, India led 64-14 as Rahul Chaudhari scored his third point of
the match. India cruised in the last few minutes as they led 65-15 after 38 minutes. Ajay Thakur attained a super 10 in the 39 th minute as India won 69-18.

The two matches to be played tomorrow are-
Bangladesh vs Argentina and Thailand vs Japan

Semifinals will be played on October 21 while the final will be on October 22.