Defending champions India beat Iran to win eighth Asian Kabaddi Championships title

Team India (@SAI_Media/Twitter)

Indian men's team outshone Iran 42-32 in a high-voltage final to defend their Asian Kabaddi Championships title on Friday. With this win, India bagged its eighth title in the continental championships.

Iran began rather aggressively, but the Indians were up to their tasks. Captain Pawan Sehrawat helped India inflict the first All-Out with two touch points and gave his side a 10-4 lead.

India kept building pressure on the Iranians and produced another All-Out. India were leading 23-11 at half time.

Iranian all-rounder Mohammadreza Chiyaneh tried to lead his side make a comeback but they ended up conceding another All-Out to trail 14-33. India maintained their stranglehold and sealed the issue.

"With the score of 42-32 in the final match against Iran, Team India retains the Asian Kabaddi Championship Title! Kudos to the entire team. Well played boys," the Sports Authority of India tweeted.

Also Read: Asian Kabaddi C'ship: India confident of tackling Iran in gold medal battle

India had beaten arch-rivals Pakistan in the final in the last edition held in Iran in 2017.

On Thursday, however, India beat Iran 33-28 in a closely-contested last league match of the Asian Kabaddi Championship in Busan, South Korea, on Thursday to set up a mouth-watering final clash against the same opponents today.

India captain Pawan Sehrawat admitted that some of his teammates were under pressure while playing against the Asian Games champions. "Some of our players are playing in an international tournament for the first time, so they were under a bit of pressure. Iran are a very good team and we came up with a good performance today [Thursday]. But the main match is tomorrow's [Friday] final and we are preparing for that," said Sehrawat.

Earlier in the competition, India outclassed South Korea 76-13, Chinese Taipei 53-20 and Japan 62-17.