World Cup Kabaddi: Indian men, women defend titles

The Indian men continued their winning streak by clinching the fifth Kabaddi World Cup title, while women bagged the crown for the fourth consecutive time, in Muktsar on Saturday.

At a grand finale held at Guru Gobind Singh Multipurpose Stadium, the Indian men's team defeated Pakistan 45-42 for the fourth time, while the women team beat New Zealand 36-27 for the second time in a row.

The men's finals between India and Pakistan was always going to be a close contest and it turned out to be one as is evident from the scoreline.

It was raiders Sandeep Singh Surakhpur (16) and Sandeep Luddar (10) who were the top scorers, while stopper Yadwinder Singh Yada ‘Surakhpur’ also registered 5 points and Gopi secured 3 points respectively to help India's cause.

The best raiders of men section are Sandeep Surakhpur (India) and Shafiq Ahmad Chishti (Pakistan) and best stopper was Yadwinder. They were awarded with tractors each.

In the women's final, the Indian eves started on a positive note and lead right from the beginning. Their dominating performance helped them to lead 18-14 at the half time.

Indian raiders Priyanka Devi and Ram Bateri scored 8 points each and Sukhwinder Kaur scored 7 points, while stoppers Anu Rani secured 4 while Ritu and Jasvir secured one point each.

In women's section, the best raiders were Ram Bateri and Priyanka, while best stopper was Anu Rani. They were awarded with a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh each.

In this event, 11 teams in men section and eight teams in the women section had participated.

The winner of men section, India, bagged a prize money of Rs 2 crore and first runners up, Pakistan won Rs 1 crore, while the winner of women section, India, were rewarded with a prize money of Rs 1 crore and first runners up, New Zealand, won Rs 51 lakh.