India continued their dominance in Kabaddi as both men’s team and women’s team lifted the World Cup trophies in Ludhiana today.
In the men’s final, India trounced arch rivals Pakistan 59-22 to lift the trophy a 3rd time, also avenging their Asia Cup final loss to their neighbours. India has won all the Kabaddi World Cups to have taken place so far. Indian team took home Rs. 2 crore as the prize money, while Pakistan earned Rs. 1 crore and Canada were awarded Rs. 51 lakh for the 3rd place finish.
Among the Indian raiders, Gagandeep Gaggi Khiranwali grabbed 10 points while Gurlal Ghanaur, Manmindar Singh Sran and Sukhbir Sarawan finished with 8, 8 and 7 points respectively. Indian stoppers Ekam Hathur, Balbir Pala and Gurwinder Kahlwan had scores of 10, 7 and 4 points respectively.
For Pakistan, raiders Shafiq Butt and Mohammad Imran added 5 and 3 points for the team respectively while stopper Sajjad Gujjar contributed 5 points to the team’s total.
The women’s final was also a one-sided affair as the Indian eves absolutely thrashed their Malaysian counterparts 72-12. India won Rs. 51 lakh as the prize money while Malaysian team was richer by Rs. 31 lakh. The Danish women Kabaddi team took home Rs. 21 lakh for their 3rd place finish.
Indian raiders Priyanka Devi, Priyanka Pilaniya and Sukhwinder Kaur scored 13, 8 and 8 points respectively, while stoppers Jatinder Kaur and Anu Rani grabbed 11 and 10 points respectively.
For Malaysia, raider Manpreet Kaur ended with 4 points and stopper Rekha added 2 points to her team’s total.
Gagandeep Gaggi Khiranwali and Ekam Hathur were declared the best raider and stopper in the men’s category and took home a tractor each as the prize.
In the women’s category, both Priyanka Devi and Jatinder Kaur won a motorcycle worth Rs. 55,000 each for the title of best raider and best stopper in the tournament respectively.
Deputy chief minster Sukhbir Singh Badal also announced an increase in prize money for women’s champion to Rs. 1 crore next year.