Hosts India avenged their recent Asia Cup loss by bulldozing Pakistan 59-22 in an unexpected one-sided final yesterday, enroute to claim the 3rd Kabaddi World Cup title in Ludhiana.
Stopper Ekam Hathur was the star on the night as he gave India a strong start by stopping Pakistan’s best raider Lala Obaidullah twice to give his side an early lead. India then built on that advantage to finish the first-half on 33-9.
The second-half was a same story, as Pakistan’s raiders failed miserably while Indian attackers, led by Sukhvir Saravan, ran riot to help his team clinch the world cup in the grandest of fashion.
India pocketed Rs20 million, while Pakistan received half of the amount. Canada picked up Rs5.1m for finishing third.
The men in green had stormed into the finals by thrashing Canada 53-27 in the semifinal. Earlier, they put a commanding show in their Group C, beating Sierra Leone 55-12 in the opening match, followed by an emphatic 61-21 victory against Scotland, before finally wrapping up the group stage in style as they thumped Italy 66-20.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 16th, 2012.
COMMENTS (11)
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India and Pakistan, by far the best kabaddi teams in the world cup 2012. They'll meet again for sure. You can watch India vs. Pakistan Final Kabaddi Match 2012 here
@The Believer: It is not just one game,Pakistan lost on all three successive world cup AND EAST PUNJAB(INDIA) IS CHAMPION ON ALL THREE OCCASIONS!!!!!!! Pakistani officials CHEATED in Asia cup 2012,SO REVENGE IS RIGHT WORD OR PAKISTANIS GOT A LESSON-BE HONEST !
It was just one game! Our team is still the best. Pakistani players were not playing their natural game, I wonder why...........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The title of this story doesn't suit the story. (In my opinion, others may or may not agree)
Following players(from East Punjab) were missing in Asia Cup 2012:Ekamjot Singh,Gagandeep Singh(non-stop raider in successive world cup finals),,Narender Ram(Bittu),Manvinder Singh.Moreover pakistanis cheated WITH BIASED REFERSHIP !!! Thats why Indian players were very aggressive in final !
So Pakistani people thought they might win world cup too.But LOOK AT HISTORY, in almost 90% cases East Punjab(India) won(since 1950)!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Looks like kabaddi players too are now familiar with spot fixing!!! LOL
Strange. Why show a picture from the last World Cup when the current World Cup is o Ed and the article is about that? Irrational patriotism from tribune. I didn't expect this.
I was expecting more from lala . Hope lalla and his friends get more experience by playing on UK season next year . I request some Pakistani business men to sponsor some more Pakistanis players to play in UK to get more experiene.
Was the world cup shown live on geo sports channel in pakistan this year also?
very poor game by Pakistan team, no one in our village was expecting such bad show
Unexpected???? ..... defensive choice of words for otherwise neutral story.