The first match of the first Kabaddi World Cup in 9 years shook the world as South Korea upset India 34-32 in Ahmedabad. A wonder raid by Jang Kun Lee, who was relatively quiet throughout the match, at the very end gave Korea the lead – one they held on to for their lives to shock the capacity crowd at the newly built TransStadia Sports Arena.
Despite leading by 8 points at one stage, India capitulated at the end to lose their second match ever in the history of the sport. Their first loss had come over 23 years ago at the 1993 South Asian Federation Games final against Pakistan.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at how the seemingly indomitable Indians lost the opening match of the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup:
1. Rahul Chaudhari flops
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The top scorer in the history of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) was one of the biggest disappointments in the opening encounter. The man from Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, went in to raid 9 times and returned successfully only twice. He spent around 15 minutes on the bench and managed a paltry return of just 3 points, which added more pressure to the shoulders of captain Anup Kumar.
Much was expected from the Telugu Titans captain, who was preferred in the starting lineup over teenage sensation Pardeep Narwal. However, the boisterous raider failed miserably and will, rightly so, get the most of the blame, something he will have to take on the chin.
#2 An off-colour Mohit Chhillar
Mohit Chhillar became the most expensive player in the world of kabaddi when Bengaluru Bulls shelled out Rs. 53 lakhs for his services ahead of the fourth season of the PKL. If his performance from the match against South Korea is anything to go by, Mohit will find it hard to keep his place in the Indian starting 7, let alone find suitors for the fifth season of the league.
He, possibly, had the worst match of his career as he attempted just ONE tackle, which was unsuccessful. The right corner defender needs to pull up his socks and stop living on reputation if India are to match expectations and lift the trophy come 22nd November.
#3 Better late than never for Jang Kun Lee
For 35 minutes, India had done a good job of keeping South Korea’s star raider quiet. The Indians were leading 29-27 with a little over a minute left in the match and would have won the match if not for the wily Lee.
With his smart raids, Anup Kumar had slowed down the tempo of the game while keeping the scorecard ticking. But, as Bengal Warriors fans would attest, Jang Kun Lee, however, isn’t one to give up when the chips are down. The 23-year-old South Korean took advantage of the Indian defenders by conjuring up a super raid to give his side the lead and sowed the seeds of doubt in the Indians’ minds.
After scoring just 1 raid points in the first 36 minutes, Lee mustered 8 points in his raids in the final 4 minutes to completely turn the tables around. He ended the match with 10 points to his name, which also included a solitary tackle point. Cometh the hour, cometh the man indeed!
#4 Tactical indiscipline
Facing four defenders between himself and the halfway line in the 35th minute, Korean raider Dong Geon Lee managed to spot a huge gap between two defenders to run across the Indian half before turning 90 degrees to cross the line and win his team 2 points that set them on the course to victory.
This shouldn’t have come as a surprise for India, though, as Jang Kun Lee had attempted a similar move just 4 minutes prior, but Deepak Niwas Hooda had managed to hold onto him. Moments later, however, Dong was shown a similar gap, if not bigger, and this time, the Koreans struck gold.
Coach Balwan Singh should have spotted this massive error by the Indians when Jang Kun Lee attempted it and prevented Dong from exploiting the same error. A mistake which proved extremely costly.
#5 Complacency, Over-confidence haunt the hosts
Before the tournament started, Indian players and coach were talking about how the only challenge they face at the World Cup is from Iran, conveniently forgetting that the earliest they would face the team from West Asia was in the knockout stages. Iran is the second best team in the world, but South Korea is the third best and going by the pre-tournament quotes and the way India went about this match, it was clear they expected the team from the Far East to roll over easily.
Taking the third best team in the world lightly is not a trait that suits champions and India paid heavily for under-estimating their opponents. India were leading by 8 points at one stage and went on to lose the match by 2 points – something that will haunt them forever. In sport, it is said that one should not look further ahead than the very next match and that is what the hosts were guilty of not doing.
Although India have a relatively easy set of fixtures till the end of the group stage, Anup Kumar and co. need to live in the present and take it one match at a time because they will now have to win all their matches to meet their ‘toughest’ opponents – Iran – in the semis.
