India retain men and women kabaddi gold

Guwahati : Defending champions India today maintained their supremacy in kabbadi by clinching gold in both men’s and women’s events at the 12th South Asian Games, here today. Indian men beat arch rivals Pakistan 9-7 in a closely fought thrilling summit clash, while their women counterparts hardly broke a sweat in defending their gold medal which they had won in the previous edition by thrashing Bangladesh 36-12 in the final. It was a repeat of the 2010 summit clash in both the finals and Pakistan and Bangladesh had to be content with a silver in men’s and women’s events for second time in a row.It was tough fight in the men’s final at the R G Baruah Sports Complex with both sides refusing to give in to their opponents. Both sides were locked 5-5 at the end of the first half before India showed in the second half why they are the reigning Asian Games champions. As usual, captain Anup Kumar played a big role in the win as he gave India a lead of 6-5 just as the second half began. Another raider Rohit Kumar stretched the home side’s lead to 7-5 by dismissing a Pakistani player before Anup yet again got his man by his outstretched hands to give India a 8-5 lead. With time ticking away and the capacity crowd chanting ‘India, India’ and ‘Jitega India’, Pakistan found themselves in a desparate situation to get points. But instead, another Pakistani player did not survive when he went deep into the Indian territoty.