'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI), on Saturday, announced 14-member teams for the Asian Kabaddi Championships scheduled to be held in Gorgan, Iran from November 23-26.
Leading the men's team will be veteran raider Ajay Thakur while captaining the women's team will be Abhilasha Mhatre. Surjeet and Priyanka have been deputed as vice-captains for the men's and women's teams respectively.
The teams are as follows:
Men's: Ajay Thakur (c), Deepak Niwas Hooda, Mahendra Singh Dhaka, Maninder Singh, Mohit Chhillar, Nitin Tomar, Pardeep Narwal, Rahul Chaudhari, Rohit Kumar, Sachin, Sandeep Narwal, Surender Nada, Surjeet, Vishal Bharadwaj
Women's: Abhilasha Mhatre (c), Kanchan Jyoti Dixit, Kavita, Manpreet Kaur, Maria Monica, Payal Chaudhari, Priyanka, Priyanka Negi, Randeep Kaur Khera, Ritu, Sakshi Kumari, Sayali Uday Jadhav, Shamaa Parveen, Sonia
The men's team will be coached by Rambir Singh Khokar, who let the Haryana Steelers to the Pro Kabaddi League Season 5 playoffs and Sushri Banani Saha will lead the women's team.
Earlier this month, a 36-member probables camp was organized in Sonepat, Haryana to select the final team. There were a number of big names who did not make the cut for the initial squad, such as, Anup Kumar, Manjeet Chhillar, Dharmaraj Cheralathan, Vishal Mane and Girish Maruti Ernak.
India's men's squad is a formidable one and will start as favourites in the competition that will feature the likes of Iran, South Korea, Japan and arch-rivals Pakistan. The squad is filled with a number of talented and world-class raiders, who will be a threat to any defence in front of him.
The defenders, led by Surjeet and Surender Nada, also stand a cut above the rest of the competition and are matched in quality, only by Iran, whose corner duo of Fazel Atrachali and Abozar Mighani set the PKL alight.
The Indian teams will leave for Iran on the morning of November 22.
