AHMEDABAD: They were extremely vocal, they were mighty enthusiastic, and they had come to the venue expecting only one result: India beating Thailand in the semi-finals of the Kabaddi World Cup to advance to Saturday's finale. So charged was the atmosphere, that the possibility of any other result was unthinkable for the fans at The Arena, the venue of the tournament.
Anup Kumar and his men had sensed the sky-high expectations and responded splendidly, beating the young Thai outfit 73-20, in what ultimately proved to be a huge mismatch of a contest. India will now meet Iran in the final.
Raiders
Ajay Thakur
and
Pardeep Narwal
have been pivotal to India's progress in the tournament, and the key clash only seemed to have motivated them further.
The deadly duo managed 11 and 14 points respectively. What's more, skipper Anup Kumar, who had been underwhelming in the previous games, too chipped in with five points, all of them coming in the initial phase.
The defence was as solid as ever with Surjeet (3 pts), Surender Nada (5 pts) and
Manjeet Chhillar
(4 pts) once again enjoying successful outings. They broke little sweat in tackling their opponents.
These fantastic players would have returned with better numbers had they not been substituted in the second half.
Earlier, India started on the best possible note, winning points on their first five raids. This was good enough to help them soothe early nerves, and with every passing minute, they kept building on the lead.
With ten minutes gone in the first half, they had raced to a 17-3 lead and making a comeback was always going to be difficult for the opponents who had punched way above their weight to even make it to the business end of the competition.
Khomsan Thongkham, the Thai skipper had inspired his young troops all the way into the last four but he found it difficult to implement his strategies and at no point during the match was he allowed to overwhelm the Indian defence. He, however, struggled and just managed three points.
Start a Conversation
Post comment