Rakesh Kumar gets highest bid in Pro Kabaddi League player auction

Two-time Asian Games gold medal winner Rakesh Kumar emerged as the top money earner and was bought for Rs 12.80 lakh by Jaipur franchise Pink Panthers in the inaugural Pro Kabaddi League player auction held in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Raider Kumar, 32, employed with Northern Railways and was part of the Indian men's gold winning squad at the 2006 Qatar Asian Games and the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games as well as the 2007 World Cup winning team, fetched the top prize in the auction featuring 96 players from 13 countries.

In second place was raider Deepak Niwas of Sports Authority of India who was bought for Rs 12.60 lakh by Telugu Taitans (Vishakapatnam).

Other big buys were: Surjeet Singh (Rs 12 lakh, Bengal Warriors of Kolkata), Ajay Thakur (Rs 12.20 lakh by Bengaluru Bulls of Bangalore), Surjeet Narwal (Rs 12.20 lakh by Delhi franchise and Navneet Gautam (Rs 11.20 lakh by Jaipur Pink Panthers).

There were four Pakistani players too at the auction and two of those - Atif Waheed and Wajid Ali - were purchased for Rs 4 lakh each by the Telugu Taitans.

The other two - Waseem Sajjad (Rs 5.20 lakh) and Nasir Ali (Rs 4 lakh) - were bought by the Patna franchise and Jaipur Pink Panthers, respectively.

"There are just a few Pakistani players. We have initiated the process for their visas and expect support from the government. We want to showcase their skills," said Charu Sharma of league promoters Mashal Sports at the media conference, when queried on the issue of Pakistan players.

Among the foreign players, Iranians were the biggest draws with defenders Mostafa Noudehi (Rs 6.60 lakh, Puneri Paltan of Pune) and Farhad Gharibi (Rs 5.60 lakh, Bengal Warriors) being the pick of the lot.

Players from South Korea, which is hosting the Asian Games in September-October at Incheon where kabaddi is a medal event, Japan, Kenya, Taiwan, Britain, Oman, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Turkey were also bought at the auction.

The league is scheduled from July 26 to August 31.

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Asian Games: India beat Iran to win record 6th kabaddi gold

Indian players pose for the shutterbugs as they celebrate their victory over Japan in the semifinal of men's kabaddi during the 16th Asian Games at Nansha Gymnasium in Guangzhou. (PTI Photo)

NEW DELHI: Indian men's kabaddi team continued their golden run by winning record sixth Asiad kabaddi gold after beating Iran 37-20 in the finals. 

With the addition of this gold medal, India have so far won 12 golds, 15 silvers and 32 bronze medals at the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China on Friday. 

The indomitable Indian kabaddi team dished out a brilliant performance right from the start as they outwitted their opponents to take a convincing lead of 24-3 at the lemon-break. 

However the Iranians bounced back strongly in the latter half and fetched some crucial points to reduce the margin. 

In the semifinals on Thursday, Indian men registered a convincing win over Japan. India did not let Japan score much in the game with the final score read as 52-17. 

Earlier in the day, the Indian women fashioned a comprehensive 28-14 victory over Thailand to clinch the inaugural women's kabaddi gold of the Asian Games. 

The Indian women led 17-7 at half-time after Thailand failed to secure a single lona against India's two. The Indian women team also got a couple of bonus points in the opening half. 

The second half followed a similar script and India once again dominated by securing a couple of lonas and getting 20 outs to emerge triumphant.

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India confident of Kabaddi medals at Guangzhou Asian Games

Balwan Singh, Head Coach of the Indian National Kabaddi Team, recently accepted an interview from the Official Website of the 16th Asian Games.

Balwan Singh, Head Coach of the Indian National Kabaddi Team, is confident of winning medals at Guangzhou Asian Games.

Since Kabaddi entered the Asian Games in 1990 in Beijing, India has captured all five gold medals. During the interview, Mr Singh introduced the experience of Kabaddi training and pointed out advantages of playing Kabaddi.

Kabaddi promotion in Guangzhou

Mr Singh confessed that his mission in Guangzhou this time was to promote Kabaddi ahead of the Asian Games so that more people in China would get to know the sport. He said, "I came to Guangzhou in 2008 to promote the sport. And now it is the second time for me to come to Guangzhou to make more people familiar with the sport."

He explained the word "Kabaddi", which means a kind of voice from the athletes while playing it. "There may be different names for the sport in different places, but the rules are almost the same," said the coach with demonstration. "You see? It is easy to play. And when you say the word of 'Kabaddi', your lungs get strong, your stomach gets strong, and your heart gets strong."

Goals for the Guangzhou Asian Games

Speaking of the Asian Games in Guangzhou, Mr Singh indicated that he is very confident of the Indian National Team. "India is always good at Kabaddi. We won many medals before, and we will win again this time."

While being asked about the main opponents an the Games, the coach answered with a smile, "I think the main opponents will be Pakistan and Iran. Of course, Japan and Korea are strong competitors too."

Popularity of Kabaddi

Although China will not participate in Kabaddi during the Asian Games, Mr Singh believes that one day the sport will be popular in China.

"It is popular all over the world. And I think with right guidance and training, Chinese people will be interested in it sooner or later."

He also wished that the Asian Games would achieve great success and that athletes would enjoy the competitions in Guangzhou.

(Zeng Zheng)

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India men and women sails into kabaddi final

Guangzhou: Gunning for their sixth straight gold in men's kabaddi, title favourites India trounced Japan 52-17 to storm into the final of the competition in the Asian Games.

The Indian women, however, escaped by the skin of their teeth in the semifinal against Iran and won the thrilling match by one point (23-22) to reach Friday's gold medal clash.

While the men's team will take on Iran, who shocked Pakistan 17-16 after trailing 4-7 in the other semifinal, Indian eves will face Thailand, who defeated Bangladesh 34-23.

Indian men completely dominated their match against Japan and were 26-5 up after the first half time.

And though the rivals had their brief moments in the sun, they never really threatened the Indians, who have won the title five successive times since the sport was introduced in the Beijing Asiad in 1990.

The Indians were too quick for their rivals in both raiding and defending and procured eight lonas (dismissal of the entire lot of players from the field) in the match, four each in the two halves.

Indian team member Navneet Gautam said that Iran was a better team than Japan.

"Iran is better than Japan but we are superior in strategies and tactics than Iran. We are confident of winning (the gold)," he said.

"We played well today. We played as a team. We were also good in defence with good understanding," he said.

India had earlier beaten Iran in their opening league match 40-24, which was pointed out by another team member -- Kaptan Singh.

"We defeated Iran in the opener and I am confident we will close the tournament with another win over them," he said.

Another key player Jasmer said that his team was ready for Iran.

"We are ready to bag the gold medal. We have practiced hard during our training camp in India," he said ahead of the final.

Team coach Balwan Singh was also confident about his team's gold medal chances and said that Iran should be worried and not his team for tomorrow's final.

"For Iran we have got a good plan. We are not worried.

They are the ones who should be worried," Balwan said.

He also appreciated the crowd support for his team.

"We are a popular team. We feel as though we are at home with all the applauding from the Chinese crowd," he said.

Meanwhile, Iran's coach Naserve Abolghsem said that his team's defence held out against Pakistan in the semifinals.

"Pakistan is a powerful team, but we put up a good defence," he said.

Against India the Iran coach is hopeful of shoring up the team's defence further and reducing their own errors.

"India are a good opponent. It is great to play against a high-level team. We will try to have a better defense and reduce mistakes," he said.

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