Asian Games 2018: All you need to know about Kabaddi

The Kabaddi event in the 18th edition of the Asian Games is all set to kickstart on 19 August 2018 and will continue till 24 August 2018. There will be 11 teams in the men's category after Iraq withdrew their participation in the upcoming event. In the women's section, a total of 9 teams will participate.

The Indian Kabaddi team (both men's and women's) start as the favourites in the Kabaddi competition. Since the 1990 Asian Games, the men's team has never lost a single match and has won all 7 gold medals consecutively. The Indian Kabaddi women's team has won 2 gold medals since the women's Kabaddi was brought in the 2010 Asian Games.

Bangladesh (7 medals), Pakistan (7 medals) and Japan (1 medal) are the teams after India to have participated in all Kabaddi events since the 1990 Asian Games (men's) and the 2010 Asian Games (women's). Iran (men's) were the runners-up at the 2010 and 2014 Asian Games and South Korea (men's) were bronze medalists at the 2014 Asian Games.

Indonesia (men's and women's) will participate for the first time in the Kabaddi event of Asiad 2018. Nepal and Sri Lanka will be eyeing a comeback after 1998 and 2002 Asian Games respectively.

In group stages, each team will play one match against the other team of the same group. Two points for a win, one for a draw and zero for the loss. The top two teams from each group will qualify and play semi-finals. The teams ending up at the third place will gain bronze medals. Gold and silver medals will go to the winners and runners-up of the final matches to be played on 24 August 2018.

Hosted by the Indonesia Asian Games Organizing Committee (INASGOC), the matches will take place at the Theatre Garuda Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII), Jakarta which has a 1500-seating capacity.

The men's matches will last 40 minutes with 20 minutes in each half (5 minutes interval in between), whereas, the women's matches will last 30 minutes with 15 minutes in each half (5 minutes interval in between). The weight category is as follows:

Men's: Not more than 85 kgs

Women's: Not more than 75 kgs

Here is how the group's division is classified:

Men's:

Group A: India, South Korea, Bangladesh, Thailand & Sri Lanka

Group B: Iran, Pakistan, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal & Malaysia

Women's:

Group A: India, Thailand, Japan, Sri Lanka & Indonesia

Group B: Iran, Bangladesh, South Korea & Chinese Taipei

Kabaddi Schedule of Asian Games 2018. (Indian Standard Time)

Here's all the information you need to know about how to watch

LIVE Telecast On TV:

Kabaddi matches will be broadcast live on the SONY Network (SONY ESPN, SONY TEN 2, & SONY TEN 3). English commentary will be on SONY ESPN and SONY TEN 2 whereas Hindi commentary will be on SONY TEN 3. All Kabaddi matches of all teams will be airing live on these networks.

All matches of Indian Kabaddi Team and playoffs will be airing without any obstruction. Any match not involving Indian Kabaddi Team/ playoffs may have a chance of getting overlapped by another sport involving the Indian athletes.

Online Streaming:

Fans can catch the Asian Games 2018 Kabaddi event live on the Sony LIV app.