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HOSTS AND CHENNAI CHECK INTO LAST FOUR
Hosts Kuala Lumpur and Chennai became the first two teams to qualify for the semi-finals of the KL International Inter City Kabaddi Championships at the Stadium Titiwangsa in Kuala Lumpur.
But it was the performance of the young KL Presidents squad that captured the hearts of everyone. The youngsters, comprising of the city’s junior players, stunned the more experienced New Delhi side 42-37 in their opening Group B match.
Delhi were caught off guard by the aggressiveness of the KL Presidents squad and trailed by as many as a dozen points after conceding a lona in the early stages of the game.
Delhi recovered to tie the score at 34-34 in the second half with a more intelligent play but their recovery was quickly snuffed out by the more enterprising KL Presidents.
It was a good day for host Kuala Lumpur as they too displayed tight defense and great offensive play to pack off pre-tournament favourites Oslo.
Kuala Lumpur won the game 39-29 with a bewildered Oslo stunned by their performance.
It was match worthy of note with both teams displaying a high level of technical game.
However, it was Kuala Lumpur’s tighter defence that saw them through.
The Kuala Lumpur side defeated teammates KL Presidents 36-32 in their second game to ensure their semi-final berth from Group B.
Oslo recovered from their opening loss to thrash New Delhi 47-14. The winner of the match between Oslo and KL Presidents will join Kuala Lumpur in the last four.
In Group A, Chennai displayed excellent teamwork to beat defending champions Patialla 39-25 in Group A.
Patialla were let down by their poor defence and paid the price in the costly loss.
Patialla beat Kapurthala 36-17 in their second match but they would need to beat Putrajaya in their final match to qualify for the semi-finals.
Putrajaya loss both their matches today. They were beaten 38-28 in their opening match and put up a much better performance in their 27-34 loss to Chennai.
With Kapurthala expected to lose to Chennai, the team that would accompany the latter into the last four could go into a countback if Patialla fails to beat Putrajaya.
A win for Putrajaya would mean that they would have a record of two loss and one win the Group, the same as Patialla and Kapurthala.
In the womens’s competition, New Delhi were forced to withdraw on technical grounds. Both Oslo and Kuala Lumpur started off their campaign in the competition with 113-19 and 55-17 wins respectively over Putrajaya.
The championships was officially launched earlier by the Malaysian Deputy Foreign Minister Senator A Kohillan Pillai.
