Kabaddi brings another shock
JAKARTA: At Theatre Garuda here, a similar plot got repeated on Friday. And yet again, Indians were at the losing end. The women’s kabaddi team, like their men’s counterpart, failed to overcome Iran’s spirited challenge and settled for silver with a 24-27 loss.
For the first time in Asian Games history, India teams will return with no kabaddi gold.
Iranian fans almost doubled up at the arena on Friday, as they were excited after the men’s team’s stunning win over seventime champions India in the men’s semi-final a day before.
It transformed into tears of joy at the end of the 40-minute battle as Iran galloped to their first gold medal in women’s kabaddi, defeating their favoured rivals.
INDIAN HAND
The brain behind their victory is none other than an expert from India - Shailja Jainendrakumar Jain, who has instilled strict discipline and modern training methods in the team.
The Indian men’s team too had come to cheer their female counterparts, hoping them to avenge the defeat a day before. Payal Chowdhury-led India took an early 6-2 lead, but defensive lapses cost them dearly.
Young all-rounder Ghazal Khalaj, who exhibited her class both in attack and defence, made a big difference. She helped the side level scores at 13-13 after a change of ends and then kept scoring vital points.
At 21-25, Sakshi Kumari managed three crucial points, helping India reduce the deficit to just one point, but Ghazal’s superlative catching of Sakshi in the next raid extended Iran’s lead (26-24) before she earned another point to seal a 27-24 win.
A dejected Indian coach Srinivas Reddy candidly admitted the team’s failure in crunch situations. “This wasn’t our day as we committed numerous errors in defence as well as in raids,” he said after the loss.