67th Senior National Kabaddi Championship: Semi-final results - Indian Railways into the finals of both divisions, Services (men) & Himachal Pradesh (women) qualify

By Vijay Sain

Modified Mar 26, 2020 12:11 IST

Indian Railways to square off against Services in the rematch of last year's final.

The fifth and final day of the ongoing 67th Senior National Kabaddi Championship witnessed the semi-final fixtures take place in the morning session at Jaipur's Poornima University in Rajasthan. Indian Railways asserted their dominance yet again and qualified for the summit clash. On the other hand, Services (men), along with Himachal Pradesh (women), became the second finalists of this year's edition.

In the first semi-final, Services rode upon the raiding duo of Nitin Tomar and Naveen Kumar to gain a quick lead over the Rahul Chaudhari-led Uttar Pradesh. However, the latter fired back as they had only a five-point deficit in the first half by 20-15. However, Nitin Tomar's Super-10 and a High-5 from Sandeep Kandola extended the lead as Rahul Chaudhari's ten raid points went in vain. Services went on to win the clash by a margin of 49-31 against Uttar Pradesh.

The second semi-final started with Indian Railways extending the lead against the hosts Rajasthan to eight points within the first 10 minutes of the match as the former inflicted an early all-out. The 'Hi-Flyer' Pawan Sehrawat achieved his Super-10 in the 14th minute, as the half-time score read 27-13. Ravinder Pahal scored another High-5 for his team as Railways inflicted two all-outs in the second half. The defending champions won with ease with the margin 46-23.

The first semi-final fixture in the women's category took place between Indian Railways and a young Jharkhand team. Sonali Shingate and Pooja's quick flurry of points helped the former gain a lead, while Ritu Negi achieved her High-5 in just 12 minutes. As the half time score read 22-10 in favour of the Railways, the team inflicted two all-outs with Ritu Negi scoring eight tackle points with a 100% strike rate. Railways went on to win the match by a 39-18 margin.

In the second women's semi-final, Himachal Pradesh registered a lead of nine points within the first half as the Sakshi Kumari-led Haryana fell apart to the experienced Himachal Pradesh team by 8-17. As the latter's Priyanka scored seven raid points for her side, the points came in from all ends from the Himachal Pradesh team as Nidhi Sharma and Jyoti picked a couple of points. Kavita's High-5 was notable to HP's success in the match, as they went on to book their final ticket with a scoreline of 22-34.