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India and Chinese Taipei's women's kabaddi team played a hard-fought 34-34 draw, which kept the spectators on the edge of their seats in the ongoing Asian Games on Monday.
Chinese Taipei made a brisk start to the game, picking up back-to-back bonus points. While Pooja opened India's account with the scoreline reading 1-3 in favour of Chinese Taipei. As Chinese Taipei continued to enjoy bonus points to keep their lead intact, Ritu Negi halted the spree of bonus points with an assured ankle hold in the right corner. Chinese Taipei still continued with their strong start to the game, with a touchpoint on the left corner Sakshi Kumari making the scoreline 4-4. As the halfway point approached India's struggle continued, as the Chinese Taipei raiders led the charge. Chinese Taipei reclaimed their lead once again following an advanced tackle high up the court and making the scoreline 8-9. Chinese Taipei's bonus point strategy continued to do wonders for them as they took a 2-point lead. Nidhi Sharma pulled one back for India after a weak ankle hold attempt and made the scoreline 11-12 in favour of Chinese Taipei. Pooja turned the tides for India with a super raid as she took out all three Chinese Taipei defenders to make it a 5-point raid. Her magical raid allowed India to take the lead for the first time in the match. The first-half whistle blew with India walked away with a two-point advantage (17-15). The second half began with Pooja leading the charge for India. Chinese Taipei continued to struggle to raid against the five-player defence of India when the bonus was inactive. A strong dash from the Indian captain, Ritu Negi the right corner helped India take a 6-point lead as they continued to show more aggression in this second half. The lead lasted for a couple of moments as Chinese Taipei took two points back making the scoreline 21-17. Chinese Taipei slowly regained their composure to reduce the deficit. India had a golden opportunity to sail towards victory with Chinese Taipei down to one player. However India, a bit lazy in their defence allowed Huang Ssu-Chin to power through to the middle-line with a Super Raid. They followed it up with a Super Tackle and India's lead went down to two. Feng went on to claim a touch on Sakshi Kumari in the left corner, but Sakshi reviewed it. The review was unsuccessful, and India's lead went straight down to one (27-26). Nidhi Sharma picked up a bonus and a touch on the right-in to restore India's 2-point lead. Feng led the counterattack again by picking up a touchpoint. India went down to one player on the court. The game ended in a draw with Chinese Taipei pulling off something special and leaving the audience in a state of trance with their remarkable performance. (ANI)
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