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India will compete in the six-nation Kabaddi Masters Dubai, which starts from June 22. Matches will be held at Al Wasl Sports Club and will be telecast on Star Sports network. The six teams are divided into two group. In Group A we have India, Pakistan, Kenya whereas in Group B we have Iran, Korea, Argentina. The tournament will start with the most awaited and might be the most heated match of the tournament. India will face Pakistan in his first group match. In November 2017 India and Pakistan played their last match with each other and India won this match by a huge margin.
RESULT OF LAST 5 MATCHES BETWEEN INDIA AND PAKISTAN
- Sep 2014- Asian Games, Incheon Group Match. Ind 23-11 Pak
- Feb 2016- South Asian Games, India Group Match. Ind 10-9 Pak
- Feb 2016- South Asian Games, India Final Match Ind 9-8 Pak
- Nov 2017- AKC, Iran Group Match Ind 44-17 Pak
- Nov 2017- AKC, Iran Final Ind 36-22 Pak
IRAN TEAM
In the modern era, kabaddi came back to prominence in Iran when the game was introduced at the Asian Games in 1990 Beijing. Though the Iran Amateur Kabaddi Federation was formed only in 2004. Iran played at 2006 Asian Games for the first time and secured the fourth position. Iran played final against India at 2010 Asian Games but secured the second position as India beat Iran by 37-20. In 2014 Asian Games, India won again. India won by 27-25. Manjeet Chhillar changed his position to the left corner and took the last crucial point while Meraj was on the raid. In 2016 World cup India beat Iran by 38-29. Ajay Thakur was the star performer taking 12 raid points.
Iran is one of India’s major competitors in the Kabaddi Masters Dubai. Iran has not declared its team yet. As per our sources, maybe Iran has some new faces and maybe trying an experiment on their bench strength by giving the chance to new faces. By doing this they may know the skill of their new faces so if they need some change or if some player gets injured in the Asian Games then they can replace injured player with the new talent.
Right now Iranian players are attending their national camp for the Asian Games and the camp will conclude on June 30. It might be we would not see their main players in the Kabaddi Masters, and there would be no Fazel or Hadi and other main players. It would be a team full of new faces and surprises. Maybe it's their strategy and they are avoiding their players from injury because everyone wants Gold in Asian games. No one can take chances for that level. We have to wait for the official confirmation. Hopefully, they will declare their team in next 2 to 3 days.
INDIAN TEAM
Indian players are attending their 3rd national camp for Asian Games 2018 at SAI, Sonipat. There are 28 players in the national camp including the 16 players selected for Kabaddi Master. The national camp will be till June 20. Hopefully, India will reach Dubai on 21 June.
INDIAN COACH'S VIEWS
Newly appointed kabaddi coach Srinivas Reddy feels the upcoming tournament is like a semi-final to much awaited Asian Games.
A former Indian player, Reddy has won a gold at 2005 Asian championship. Reddy has been an assistant coach with Telugu Titans and Haryana Steelers. Now Reddy has been appointed as the head coach of Jaipur Pink Panthers.
AUTHOR'S VIEWS
India team is the strongest team among the other 5 teams. Out of 16 players, we have 11 Raiders including our three ALL ROUNDERS i.e Manjeet Chhillar, Sandeep Narwal and Deepak Hooda. These players can even raid when the team has a need of it. If we see new Iranian team then it might be the starting of the tournament and the ending of the tournament would be same. Maybe In finals, we can see INDIA and PAKISTAN again. Good luck team India.
