India and Pakistan will come face to face in the finals at the Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana on April 12. The wining team will get Rs 2.2 crore Prize Money, while the first runner-up will bag Rs. 51 lakh. The second and third runner-up teams will take home Rs. 21 and Rs. 10 lakh respectively. Besides Rs. 500,000 each will be given to other participating teams agencies.
In the semi-final matches on Saturday, India defeated Canada 57-36, while Pakistan overcame Italy 57-33.
India thrashed Pakistan, wins Kabaddi World Cup 2010.
Shame that Kabaddi is not getting any media exposure!
Hardawinder Singh Dulla, Lakwinder Singh Singh Laddi, Sukhbir Singh Saravan and Sandeep Singh Sukhpuria engineered Indian’s well-
merited victory over Canada. Kulwinder Singh Bihari Puria and Kuldeep Singh Sukhpuria were the main raiders for Canada. Indian captain Mangat Singh Mangi Bagga got six points from his 11 tries to stop the Canadian raiders. Kuljit Singh Malsihan was the best Canadian raider by securing 15 points from his 17 fast raids.
Well-trained Pakistan displayed their power kabaddi, catching and raiding, to regularly collect points. Captained by Imtiaz Alam, Pakistan were leading by 27-19 at half time. The trend in the beginning indicated that it would be a close match but superior Pakistanis implemented their game plan systematically and slowly tilted the balance in their favour. Imtiaz was the inspiration for Pakistan with his raids. He secured nine points. Babbar Gujjar, known as Prince of Pakistan, also proved himself a robust raider as he gained seven points. Afran Ludhiania proved himself a formidable raider. He contributed ten valuable points for his team. Akhtar Pathan was the other Pakistan raider who held the spotlight with six points. With his firm grip Yaser Javed got four points out of his seven stoppings.
Video of Pre match interviews with players
With the overwhelming response to the first edition of the tournament, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal announced that eight stadiums conforming to international standards would be completed within one year in the state.
“The next World Cup Kabaddi tournament would be held in these newly constructed stadiums. Services of international architects would be sought for this ambitious project,†he said. “This tournament has left behind IPL cricket as for as TRP ratings in northern India, New Delhi, Canada, Britain, the US, Italy, Pakistan and Iran are concerned. People from all over the country are thronging the stadiums to witness the nail biting matches,†Badal said.
Norway withdraws last-minute, leaving nine teams from countries like Pakistan, the US, Britain, Canada, Iran and Australia to participated in this cash-rich tournament.
Teams are divided into two pools. Host India has been placed in Pool A while our traditional rivals Pakistan are in Pool B.
Pool A: United States of America, Australia, Italy, Iran and India
Pool B: Canada, United Kingdom and Spain and Pakistan.
Fixtures:
April 3: India vs USA (9.40 p.m.) at YPS Patiala.
April 4: Iran vs Italy (2.50 p.m.), Paksitan vs Canada (4 p.m.), United Kingdom vs Spain (5 p.m.) at War Heroes Stadium, Sangrur.
April 5: Canada vs Spain (2.50 p.m.), USA vs Australia (4.05 p.m.), India vs Italy (5.05 p.m.) at Guru Gobind Singh Stadium, Jalandhar.
April 6: USA vs Iran (2.50 p.m.), Pakistan vs Spain (4.05 p.m), India vs Australia (5.05 p.m) at Outdoor Stadium Hoshiarpur
Aptil 7: Italy vs Australia (2.50 p.m.), Iran vs India (4.05 p.m), UK vs Canada (5.05 p.m.) at Government College Stadium Gurdaspur.
April 8: Iran vs Australia (2.50 p.m), USA vs Italy (4.05 p,m) and Pakistan vs UK (5.05 p.m) at Guru Nanak Stadium Amritsar.
April 9: Rest Day.
April 10: Semi-finals: Winners of Pool A vs runners-up of Pool B (3.05 p.m), Winners of Pool B vs Runners-up of Pool A (4.35 p.m.) at Sports Stadium Bhatinda.
April 11: Rest Day.
April 12: Match for 3rd and 4th places (5.30 p.m.) and final (7.30 p.m.) at Guru Nanak Stadium Ludhiana.
