Kabaddi World Cup | India demolish England to enter semis

Kabaddi World Cup | India demolish England to enter semis

no photo

India entered the semifinal of the Kabaddi World Cup in style today with a complete annihilation of England in their last group match. Pardeep Narwal starred with 13 points from raids as India ended the match at 69-18 to secure the second place in Group A and set up a semi-final clash with Iran. 

First Half

India started the match with a bang as Sandeep Narwal scored a Super raid taking out three England players in the third minute. The hosts then completed the first all-out within the first six minutes with the scoreline reading 14-3. England looked close to a second all-out but Keshav Gupta averted it by taking out Ajay Thakur and Sandeep Narwal taking the score to 17-5. There looked hardly any hope for England as Sandeep Narwal got Tejash Depala, Keshav Gupta to account for India's second all-out inside the first quarter.

With one foot firmly in the semifinal by now, Anup Kumar's men focussed on a surgical decimation of England. The defending champions soon reached 33-5 with Ajay Thakur effecting yet another all-out with 4 minutes remaining on the clock. In his penultimate raid of the first half, Pardeep Narwal reached 10 raid points in the match with a Super raid. In the next raid, Narwal pulled off a bonus point as well sending England to their fourth all-out to end the first half at 45-6.

Second Half 

Mohit Chhillar and Nitin Tomar replaced Dharmaraj Cheralathan and Sandeep Narwal respectively as India went for the kill in the second half. 

Nitin Tomar scored two points in his first raid to start off the second-half proceedings. Pardeep Narwal bagged one more point by taking out Nikesh Farmah, and soon, India finished their fifth all-out of the match in the 28th minute as Surjeet successfully stopped Joshua Cherian with a clever leg hold to take the score to 57-8.

England finally opened their account in the second half after that Indian onslaught when Ajay Thakur failed to tackle Temi TopeAdewalure. The Ahmedabad crowd roared in anticipation as Rahul Chaudhari went in for his first raid of the match in the 29th minute, but the star disappointed coming back empty-handed.

India took their foot off the pedal a bit after the 33rd minute allowing England to score five points to reach 64-15.Rahul Chaudhari touched Meredydd Rowan Rix, getting a bonus point taking the score to 68-16. Ajay Thakur then wrapped up the match with a successful raid as the match ended at 69-18.

With the win, India entered the semifinals finishing second in the Group A behind leaders Korea and will face Group B leaders Iran in the semis. The final four match will be played on October 21.

Get updates! Follow us on

Open all