Asian Kabaddi Championship: India beat Japan 62-17 to continue unbeaten run

The Indian men’s kabaddi team beat Japan 62-17 to register its third straight win at the Asian Kabaddi Championship 2023, here on Wednesday.

Aslam Inamdar, who made an impressive debut against Korea on Tuesday, got his second super 10 of the tournament and was once again the top-scorer in the match. Parvesh Bhainswal led India’s charge in defence.

Both India and Japan came into the game on the back of two wins each.

Japan, who were ruthless in their 85-11 victory over Hong Kong on Tuesday and beat Korea 45-18 earlier in the day, failed to find answers against the Indian kabaddi team.

India inflicted six all-outs on Japan with three in each half. The defending champions scored their first all-out in the fourth minute and raced to an 18-0 lead before Japan opened their account in the eighth minute, an olympics.com report said.

The first half ended with a score of 32-6 in India’s favour. Captain Pawan Sehrawat was India’s top raider in the first half with six points.

Japan had a better showing in the second half and scored quick points at the end. India, however, won the kabaddi match with a margin of 45 points.

Earlier in the tournament, India dominated Korea 76-13 followed by a 53-19 win over Chinese Taipei on Tuesday. The Indian kabaddi team will take on Iran on Thursday. Iran are also unbeaten in the tournament so far.

Six teams — India, Iran, Japan, Korea, Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong — are participating in the Asian Championships. The top two teams after the single-legged round-robin league will meet in the final on Friday.