Busan [South Korea], June 27 : India started their Asian Kabaddi Championships title defence with a victory over the Republic of Korea and Chinese Taipei on Tuesday.
India played their first match of the day against Korea. Debutant Aslam Inamdar, who came as a substitute for veteran raider Naveen Kumar, scored a super 10 as India went on to win their match by 76-13, as per Olympics.com.
Indian men's kabaddi team scored nine successive points before Korea opened their tally. India ended the first half with a huge lead of 36 points at 40-4. Korea got nine points in the second half but they were no match to India's all-round performance.
India inflicted a total of five all-outs in the match. Surjeet Narwal was impressive as a defender, scoring seven tackle points.
Indian kabaddi team, who have won seven out of eight Asian Kabaddi Championships, faced a better challenge against Chinese Taipei. Sachin's all-around show helped India win the match by 53-19.
India was initially leading by 7-6. But the gap increased with the Indian side getting eight successive points which included an all-out in the 12th minute.
At the half-time, the scoreline was 21-12 in favour of India. India did three all-outs later in the second half and won the match by a huge margin of 34 points.
On Wednesday, the Indian kabaddi squad will face Japan. The much-anticipated match between India and Iran, the 2003 winners, will take place on Thursday.
The Asian Championships include six teams: India, Iran, Japan, Korea, Chinese Taipei, and Hong Kong. The final will be held on Friday and will include the top two teams from the single-leg round-robin competition.
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