Dubai: India emerged as the champions of the Kabaddi Masters Dubai six-nation tournament at the Al Wasl Sports Complex on Saturday night.
Unbeaten throughout the tournament, India defeated Iran 44-26 in the final to lift the trophy.
A packed stadium watched India take control of the match as their skipper Ajay Thakur earned the first point for India. He got Mohammad Naseri of Iran out of the centre and Monu Goyat then ejected out Hadi Tajak.
Rishank Devadiga scored his first point as India raced to a 3-0 lead.
Iran opened their account in the fourth minute through Nabibaksh who got Girish Ernak with a running hand touch.
Cheered by the supporters, Devadiga hit back displaying a strong upper body strength to trap Hamid Mirzaei and Goyat surprised the Iranians with his speed.
Meanwhile, Ernak outmuscled Amin Nosrati to get a tackle point as India raced to a 15-8 lead.
Iran’s Saeid Ghaffari got a sliding toe touch point on the right to get Mohit Chhillar out but Thakur got Maleki out with a hand touch deep into the left corner.
Maghsoudlou earned a point and Amin Nosrati scored a bonus point to help Iran catch up but India still held the lead 18-11 going into the break.
The second half began with Goyat earning a quick point through a raid, which gave the momentum as Indians showed total domination there after.
Though Nabibaksh gave Iran a point, India were comfortably positioned with a 29-16 lead.
With five minutes to go, Iran’s Maleki went deep into the left corner and Thakur took him down and India took firm grip by extending the lead to 35-20.
India reached the final by beating Republic of Korea 36-20 in the semi-final on Friday.
Ajay Thakur showed the way along with young Girish Ernak to ensure the impressive win.
Though Korea’s Jang Kun Lee put up a spirited performance it wasn’t enough to stop the unbeaten Indians.
In fact, Lee opened Korea’s account in the first minute with a successful raid.
Thakur after getting India’s first point in the third minute levelled the match at 2-2 in the fourth minute but when Lee produced a super raid in the eighth minute, Korean led 7-3. It was when Monu Goyat scored a raid point in the 14th minute India led for the first time after that they never looked back.
Iran reached the final too through an impressive 40-21 win over Pakistan.
Mohammad Nabibaksh of Iran thwarted all attempts by Pakistan’s raiders throughout the match. Nabibaksh gave Iran a smooth start through a super raid in the first minute.
Within three minutes Iran led 6-1. Pakistan got their first raid point in the eighth minute through Mudassar Ali but the rest found the Iran defence too strong.
