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India survived a scare in the men’s kabaddi final at the Asian Games yesterday but as the country that developed the sport, they can take pride from the fact other nations are almost able to challenge the masters. |
Having won six men’s titles out of six since kabaddi was introduced to the Asian Games in 1990, India had reason to feel confident going into their final against Iran. And not least since they had crushed the same opponents 37-20 in the final of the previous edition.
“I’d like to give thanks to all of the medallists,” India coach Balwan Singh said afterwards. “I’m very proud that India is the birthplace of kabaddi.”
But shortly before half-time, when 17-7 down, Balwan was not nearly so relaxed. Their confidence had vanished and though they improved to 21-13 by the interval, it was Iran, scarcely able to believe their own performance, who were still in the driving seat.
After the re-start, Iran could not maintain the same level and India slowly but surely hauled them in. Anup Kumar then put his side in front with a tag and when Gholamabbas Koouki was caught, the end seemed imminent.
Iran refused to give up though and when their two players on the court caught Anup, Meraj Sheykh had the chance to tie the match on the last play. He failed, though only just, and India kept their gold 27-25.
As the Iranians slumped the floor, the Indians celebrated wildly. The strength of their reaction showed they had been in a contest - after all, winning is worth more when gained by defeating a credible opponent.
“We had a very good match with the Indian team. Team Iran is very strong, although we we lost today,” Iranian captain Fazel Atrachali said. “We practised every day harder and harder, to play kabaddi even better.”
Shortly before the men’s victory, the Indian women had also retained their 2010 gold by defeating Iran 31-21 in what was a preview of the men’s final.
And Iranian women’s coach Zahra Rahiminejadnoudijeh revealed that the opposition were partly responsible for the long-term improvement of the sport in Iran.
“There are many coaches from India,” she said. “They help my country grow in kabaddi. So we are thankful for India ... We are friends and to be together is very important for kabaddi. We can grow up when we are given a helping hand.
“We do very hard work. We try, try, try, to be better and better. In the last competition in Guangzhou (2010) we lost against Thailand, but we won against them this time. In another Asian Games maybe we can get the gold from India.”
That gold will not be taken easily. The Indian delegation emphasized that they had not only a powerful team presently but strong juniors and an established system to develop youth.
But growing kabaddi is a reward in itself for the birthplace of the game, which involves a team’s raider seeking to touch as many opponents as possible before returning to their own side of the court without being caught - while at the same time chanting “kabbadi” to show they are not drawing breath.
“Kabaddi helped to improved the health of internal organs by chanting ‘kabaddi’ while holding his or her breath on the opponent team’s turf,” Singh said.
“So this is one of the best games in the world. This is a game people of all ages can enjoy.”
