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The Indian men's Kabaddi team became the first team to consolidate their spot in the gold medal match with a victory over Bangladesh on the fourth day of the Kabaddi event in the ongoing South Asian Games 2019. The hosts Nepal, however, suffered an early exit from the competition courtesy of a defeat to Pakistan. The matches took place in the APF Hall Halchowk, Kathmandu.
India clashed against Bangladesh in the first match of the morning session. India pulled off a surprise with five raiders and two defenders to start the proceedings of the day. Pardeep Narwal, Vikash Khandola, and Naveen Kumar led the offence this time, with Pawan Sehrawat and Deepak Niwas Hooda shielding the defense from the covers. The duo of Amit Hooda and Surender Nada played as the regular corner defenders.
Pardeep Narwal started the match with a breath-taking dubki underneath the defence for a 3-pointer raid. Surender Nada went for a brilliant back hold attempt, as Bangladesh got bundled for their first all-out in the first five minutes itself. The lead extended to 13 points in favour of India, courtesy of Naveen and Vikash's consistent raid points and two all-outs in the first 20 minutes.
India kept its stronghold with a lead of 20 points in the first half as the half time score read 28-8. India didn't let Bangladesh make a comeback at any stage of the game and inflicted a third all-out on them. With all-round performances from both the offence and defence, India managed a hefty 25 point lead till the end to win the match by a 44-19 margin.
Nepal and Pakistan locked horns to save themselves from elimination from the men's category. The Nasir Ali-led side started the match with a decent 19-pointer lead in the first 15 minutes of the fixture. As the half-time score was 28-7 in favour of Pakistan, Mudassir Shah yet again starred for Pakistan in the offence as Nepal struggled in their defence and kept losing points.
Nepal, on the back of their inexperience and less exposure in the game, couldn't reply to Pakistan's dominance in the game. Pakistan inflicted a total of three all-outs in the match. The hosts became the first team to get eliminated from the men's category following their loss to the 2016 silver medalists by a margin of 22-54. On the other hand, Pakistan has climbed to the second spot with a victory.
They will hope that Bangladesh wins their fixture against Sri Lanka by a lower margin for them to qualify for the gold-medal match.
Here is the summary of the fourth day of the kabaddi event as part of the 13th South Asian Games 2019.
Morning Session
Match 13: India defeated Bangladesh 44-19 (Men's)
Match 14: Pakistan defeated Nepal 22-54 (Men's)
You can look at the points table of the Kabaddi event in the South Asian Games 2019 here.
