Kabaddi World Cup:India to face Iran in final again, thrashes Thailand by in semifinal by 73-20

Ahmedabad: India and Iran will now play in the final of the third edition of Kabaddi world cup here tomorrow which would look like a repetition of sorts of the last two editions.
Defending Champion India today thrashed Thailand in a completely dominated one-sided match by a huge margin of 73-20 in the second semifinal while last time runners up Iran beat Korea, which was undefeated in the league round, in the closely fought thrilling first semifinal by 28-22 to enter the final.

India had dominated the game right from the beginning and were way ahead even at the end of the second half with a lead of 36-7. They ultimately won the game by beating Thailand by a huge margin of 73-20.

On the contrary It was a closely fought match and battle of tactics for Iran as it won the match after trailing by 11-13 at the half time. Iran’s defence that has been their biggest strength delivered when it mattered the most as they treated the crowd at TransArena Stadium here to a defensive masterclass. Despite a slow start, their defence scored 11 points and came up with points at crucial moments to thwart Republic of Korea raiders. Korea which had with its stunning ‘fight-back’ games, in the league round remained undefeated could not break the strong defence of the Persian opponents this time around and lost. Korea had stunned the world by defeating India in the opening encounter and had won all its five league matches. Iran had won four of its five league matches with an unexpected defeat by Poland.

In the earlier two editions of the World cup also India and Iran had locked horns for the title.

The current edition of the world cup is only the third one so far.

India had defeated Iran easily by 55-22 in the first Kabaddi world cup (international format) in Mumbai in 2004. In the second edition held in Panvel in Raigad district of Maharashtra in 2007 the two teams again reached the finals and have comparatively a tougher fight with India again lifting the cup by beating Iran 29-19.

The third edition of Kabaddi World Cup in Ahmedabad organised by International Kabaddi Federation has seen participation of 12 teams – India, Iran, Bangladesh, Japan, Korea, Australia, Kenya, England, USA, Thailand, Poland, and Argentina – battling it out for the world title.

India, which is also 7 times Asian Games winner,was in Group A with Korea, Australia, England, Bangladesh and Argentina While Iran with Thailand, Japan, the USA, Poland and Kenya were in Group B.

DeshGujarat