India’s golden kabaddi run ends in heartbreak
NEW DELHI: Every time India left for an Asian Games over the last 28 years, it went in the knowledge that one gold medal was virtually assured — the indigenous sport of kabaddi that has sparked its own professional league in the country since 2014.
The golden run ended on Thursday, when India was eliminated 27-18 in the kabaddi semi-final by Iran, and had to be content with a bronze medal for the first time since the sport was introduced at the Asiad in the 1990 Games in Hiroshima.
Ironically, experts said, part of the blame for India’s defeat, and for the rise of Iran as a world kabaddi force, lies in the Pro Kabaddi League which features a number of Iranian players.
India had also lost a group match 24-23 to South Korea on Tuesday — it’s first-ever kabaddi defeat in an Asian Games.
South Korea beat Pakistan 27-24 in the other semi-final, heralding a shift away from the subcontinent, which was considered the kabaddi hotbed.
“We lost the match due to the captain’s over confidence. We thought this time too we would beat Iran. But it was a big mistake as they were very much ready to tackle us,” India coach Ram Mehar Singh said. “We are known for our best raiding skills in the world, but it didn’t live up to the expectations today.”
Even as India’s stock in kabaddi may have fallen, however, there is some consolation from the fact that its contingent is rising in sports such as wushu, sepak takraw and pencak silat despite have almost no pedigree or tradition in these sports. India has won four bronze medals in wushu, one bronze in sepak takraw, and booked a quarter-final berth in pencak silat. Wushu and sepak takraw were both intro- duced in the Asian Games in 1990, and pencak silat made its debut in the Jakarta Games.
Experts pointed out that Iran’s step-up in kabaddi was not entirely unforeseen. Runners-up in the previous two Asian Games in Guangzhou and Incheon as well as the 2016 World Cup, Iran have quietly replaced Pakistan and Bangladesh as India’s biggest rivals on the world stage. Between 1990 to 2006, India took gold while Pakistan and Bangladesh took either silver or bronze.
But in 2010, Bangladesh slipped out of the top three while Pakistan settled for bronze. Then in 2014, South Korea won bronze, pushing both Pakistan and Bangladesh out of the podium. Iran were a constant feature by now and slowly closing in on India.
The Iran women’s coach Zahra Rahiminejad had said on Tuesday that her team had come to Jakarta to reclaim the sport she believes to have originated in her country. “It is a big mistake! Kabaddi is not an Indian word, it is an Iranian word,” Rahiminejad was quoted as saying by AFP. “Kabaddi is part of the culture of Iran.”
Both Iran and South Korea have a strong presence in India’s PKL. Five players of the current Iranian team — Abozar Mohajermighani, Fazel Atrachali, Had iO s ht orak,M oh sen Maghsoudloujaf aria nd Abolfazl Maghsodloumahali — had featured in different PKL teams in the last edition. Atrachali was the highest-paid overseas player in the 2018 season.
“We possibly didn’t factor in that Iran has improved in leaps and bounds over the years. I don’t know by the time 2022 Asian Games are held, you might not see many of these current players. It is a historic defeat,” said two-time Asian Games gold medallist and former India captain Anup Kumar.