Jakarta : India’s men’s kabaddi team suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Iran in the semi-finals while the women’s team entered the final with a comprehensive win over minnows Chinese Taipei at the Asian Games on Thursday.
Iran scripted history in the annals of world kabaddi by stunning India 27-18 in the semi-finals. Pakistan lost 24-27 to a much improved South Korea in the other last four clash. The two Sub-continental powers — reigning world champions India and once formidable Pakistan — will thus have to be satisfied with a bronze medal each.
But the women’s team restored some lost pride for India, overwhelming Chinese Taipei 27-14 to enter their third consecutive final. The two-time champions will meet Iran in the final.
This is the first time since the traditional rural sport was included in the Asian Games in 1990 that the Indian men’s team will not take home the gold. Apart from ending India’s 28-year run as defending champions at the Asiad, Thursday’s defeat was also Indian men’s first at any major tournament.
Along with the Asian Games, India have won every World Cup, Asia Cup and South Asian Games till now. This is also Iran’s first victory over India in the knock-out stages of any tournament. For the Iranians, this is also revenge of sorts for their defeats to India in the finals of the last two Asian Games.
In a match which saw a thrilling battle between Indian raiders and Iran’s defence, Iran proved superior. Iran struggled initially, but used their expertise in the super tackle to script an amazing comeback. Right from the start, Indian raiders struggled to get points while Iran, on the other hand, maintained their dominance throughout the match thanks to their defence. Iran took most of their points through super-tackles which helped them overpower overwhelming favourites India. The match was off to a somewhat tentative start before exploding with power-packed action in the second half.
In the women’s semi-finals, Chinese Taipei could not repeat their first half performance in the next half against India and got eliminated from the semis.
Terming it a “massive defeat”, coach Ram Mehar Singh hit out at his captain Ajay Thakur’s “over-confidence” after India were knocked out of the Asian Games men’s gold medal match for the first time. “We lost the match due to the captain’s over confidence, injury played a part, and super tackle,” the dejected coach said after the shocking defeat at the Theatre Garuda.
Influential skipper Thakur got injured during the match and that only made India’s job harder. Even as the result started to trend on the social media, Ram Mehar Singh added, “It’s a massive defeat by Iran and we accept this. Our catching was also good. We have to accept that Iran played well.”
India endured their worst outing this time, having lost to South Korea a few days ago. “In our last match our defence did not do well, but today our defence did well. We told them to use their mind while raiding. Forward line did not work today, and we faced problems in super tackle,” Ram Mehar said.
India’s shocking ouster will have “far-reaching implications”, feels two-time Asiad gold medallist and former captain Anup Kumar. “I am too stunned to react at the moment. It will take some time to accept that this has exactly happened. But let me tell you there will be far-reaching impact of this result and repercussions will be huge,” Anup, who led India to a gold medal at the Incheon Games said.
He was the captain during the last edition when Iran nearly pulled off an upset win before India managed to hold onto their gold. Didn’t we see the tell-tale signs? “Yes, we did,” Kumar said.
“And I don’t think that the boys were not sincere. But possibly we didn’t factor in that Iran has improved in leaps and bounds over the years. I don’t know by the time 2022 Asian Games are held, you might not see many of these current players. It is a historic defeat.”
