History and form make India favourites
Both men and women’s kabaddi teams have never settled for anything less than gold and look good once again
CHANDIGARH:Even before the Asian Games commence, everyone is assured of one result — India winning gold in kabaddi. Indian men have won gold in all seven editions, since the sport made its debut at the continental Games in 1990 — a record for any team in any discipline.
Women’s kabaddi was introduced in the 2010 Games and since then India have remained unbeaten.
While Indian men will be vying for their eighth gold, the women will be eyeing a hat-trick of titles.
“Going by the past record and current form, nobody can deny that India are the hot favourites to win gold in both men’s and women’s sections. But at the same time we can’t afford to take anybody lightly,” said national coach Balwan Singh. At 2014 Incheon, the Indian men had a close final encounter against Iran and won the title by just two points while in all earlier editions (1990 to 2010) they won one-sided finals.
“We are confident of our abilities but also cautious of the increasing competition in the continent. For us, it is not about any medal, but gold. We can’t think anything less than that. For sure we are going to add two gold medals in the country’s overall tally in Jakarta,” the coach added.
India won gold in the Dubai Masters in June against all top Asian teams, including Iran. For Jakarta, the defending champions have opted to go with just three frontline defenders, six out-and-out raiders and three all-rounders.
“The team is balanced and some of our raiders are very good defenders so you can also call them all-rounders. According to me, this team has maximum allrounders. Our skipper Ajay is experienced and will take India to a record eighth victory,” said Balwan.
IRAN, KOREA CHECK IN
In the five editions of the Asian Games from 1990 to 2006, the podium was shared by teams from the sub-continent. While India took gold, silver and bronze were shared by Pakistan and Bangladesh.
But in 2010, Bangladesh slipped off the podium and Pakistan settled for bronze. The new entrant was Iran, who again won silver in 2014. In 2014, South Korea won bronze, pushing both Pakistan and Bangladesh out.
Jakarta will see maximum number of teams competing in both men and women’s sections. While there will be 12 teams in men’s competition, in comparison to eight previously, women’s competition will feature nine teams.
“The credit for this goes to Pro Kabaddi. It has not only helped in popularising the sport but also increased the level of competition. Apart from India, countries like Iran and South Korea have also benefitted as their players have got decent exposure from the league. In Jakarta, India are expecting to meet Iran in the final,” said Balwan.
PRO KABADDI EFFECT
From its very first edition (in 2014), the Pro Kabaddi League has been a hit, attracting huge TRP every season, giving players huge cash incentives that were unheard of before. The 2018 season broke all records as for the first time players earned ~1 crore-plus from franchises. Six players got money in eight digits with the maximum going to Monu Goyat (~1.51 crore). In the overseas category, Iranian defender Fazel Atrachali received ~1 crore.
“If foreign teams have benefitted from the league, then imagine what benefit it has done to our kabaddi. As most players in the league are local, the standard of the Indian kabaddi has increased manifold. It will be evident in Jakarta,” said Rakesh Kumar, who was part India’s three successive Asian Games (2006, 2010, 2014) champion squad and fetched the highest bid in the inaugural season of Pro Kabaddi in 2014.
WOMEN EYEING HAT-TRICK
In both the previous editions of the Games, Indian women defeated their rivals in one-sided contests, making them automatic favourites for the gold. Iran and Thailand are likely to throw some challenge for India. Payel Chowdhury, who is employed with Indian Railways, will be leading the women’s defence.