India up for Thai challenge
With the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup at Ahmedabad reaching the climactic stages, the semifinalists can’t afford to let their intensity slacken.
India captain Anup Kumar threw light on how forlorn it felt to lose the opening match to unfancied South Korea. “I can’t speak for my teammates, but I couldn’t sleep the day we went down to Korea. But, the positive thing is we didn’t let it affect our morale, and won four matches in a row,” said the ace raider.
Anup cautioned his team not to be complacent when they take on Thailand in the last four clash on Friday. “Thailand defeated Japan in their last league match. They have a strong defence. We are not expecting a cakewalk. We have our strategies in place for different players,” added the 32-year-old, without revealing what his likely starting team would be.
Thailand skipper, Khomsan Thongkam meanwhile, was upbeat after not many gave them a chance to advance this far. “We came here as rank outsiders but beating a strong opponent like Japan gave us confidence. It will be a big challenge to play India in front of their home crowd, but that will not have any bearing on us,” said Thongkam.
Korea captain, Dong Ju Hong, whose team will face Iran in the other semifinal, insisted that after topping a tough group, they now believe they can upstage any team.
If there was one issue that saw the four captain’s speak the same language, it was the growing need to make Kabaddi a part of the Olympics, if not in the next edition, at least in the subsequent one in 2024.