Kabaddi World Cup Final:In clash of titans, India to go for third consecutive title, Iran would like to break the jinx

Ahmedabad: The final of the Kabaddi World Cup 2016 to be played here this evening will be a ‘clash of titans’ in which defending champion India would try to continue its winning streak to get the coveted cup for the third consecutive time while last time runners up Iran would try its best to break the jinx of losing the finals.

In the earlier two editions of the World Cup also India and Iran had locked horns for the title with India winning on both the occasions.
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 had comparatively a tougher fight with India again lifting the cup by beating Iran 29-19. The current edition of the world cup is only the third one so far.

The host nation needs no introduction in the world of Kabaddi. They have won glory in the sport across various competitions including the Asian Games and South Asian Games. The team this year is touted as the “Dream Team” – a well-rounded squad, consisting of the best players from Pro Kabaddi, league. With a skipper like Anup Kumar, his deputy and star all-rounder Manjeet Chhillar and young stars such as Rahul Chaudhari and Pardeep Narwal, the team is bubbling with confidence and seemed ready to lift the cup again.

The Indian team composition is – Raider 1: Anup Kumar (captain) Raider 2: Rahul Chaudhary Raider 3: Deepak Hooda Raider 4: Pardeep Narwal Raider 5: Jasvir Singh Raider 6: Ajay Thakur Defender 1: Mohit Chhillar Defender 2: Surender Nadda Defender 3: Surjeet Singh Defender 4: D Cherathalan Defender 5: Kiran Parmar All Rounder 1: Manjeet Chillar All Rounder 2: Nitin Tomar All Rounder 3: Sandeep Narwal

On the other hand famous for its wrestling styled kabaddi, Iran is also a major force to reckon with in the world of professional kabaddi. The nation has a diverse and relatively long history in the sport and is one of few nations to have a professional league set-up dedicated to it. They had a strong presence in Pro Kabaddi in India too, with Abolfazl M. Mahalli and Fazel Atrachali from the current national squad, who as part of Patna Pirates were crowned Pro Kabaddi champions in Season 4. Meraj Sheykh and Mohammadreza Maghsodlou are the other noteworthy mentions.

The Iranians take the sport very seriously, and its similarity to wrestling – another sport that Iran is famous for – has helped the nation reach the finals of various competitions earlier as well. On paper, Iran has been dubbed as the strongest threat to India’s chances of winning the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup.
The Iran squd consists of -Raider 1 Meraj Sheykh (Captian) Raider 2 Abolfazl Maghsoudlou Mahalli,Raider 3 Gholamabbas Korouki Raider 4 Mohammadesmaeil Maghsoudloumahalli Raider 5 Mohammadtaghi Paeinmahali Raider 6 Mohsen Maghsoudloujafari Defender 1 Abozar Mohajer Mighani Defender 2 Fazel Atrachali Defender 3 Hadi Tajik Defender 4 Milad Sheibak Defender 5 Soleiman Pahlevani All Rounder 1 Mohammad Esmaeil Nabibakhsh All Rounder 2 Farhad Rahimi Milaghardan All Rounder 3 Saeid Ghaffari

India yesterday thrashed Thailand in a completely dominated one-sided semifinal match by a huge margin of 73-20 while Iran beat Korea, which was undefeated in the league round, in the closely fought thrilling first semifinal by 28-22 to enter the final.

The third edition of Kabaddi World Cup in Ahmedabad organised by International Kabaddi Federation at the Arena of Trasstadia has seen participation of 12 teams. 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 was in Group B.

PTI