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India managed to seal their place in the final of the Asian Kabaddi Championship 2023 with a slender 33-28 victory over Iran at the Dong-Eui Institute of Technology Seokdang Cultural Center in Busan, Republic of Korea, on Thursday.
Captain Pawan Sehrawat led the Indian men's kabaddi team from the front, scoring 16 of the 33 points for India. Coming into the contest both India and Iran were on unbeaten runs. Both kabaddi teams made a careful start to the match. Aslam Inamdar's two-point raid followed by an all-out and Pawan Sehrawat's two-point raid helped India build up a lead early on. The scores read in India's favour at half-time with 19-9. Iran, the reigning Asian Games champions on the back foot then went on to make a terrific comeback after the break. Iran, who defeated Korea 72-17 earlier in the day, handed India their first all-out of the tournament to reduce the gap to just two points with a minute to go. However, things started to change following a super tackle by India with 30 seconds to go in the match. The momentum shifted in India's favour as a two-point raid was followed by Arjun Deshwal that helped India clinch the victory with a five-point margin. Earlier in the tournament, India beat Japan 62-17, Korea 76-13 and registered a 53-19 win over Chinese Taipei. The Indian kabaddi team will play Hong Kong in their final league match on Friday before playing their final on the same day. The top two teams after the conclusion of the league stage will play the final. India have won seven of the eight Asian Kabaddi Championship editions played so far while Iran won the title once, in 2003. (ANI)
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