Kabaddi World Cup: 5 reasons which contributed to India's loss to South Korea

#5 Complacency, Over-confidence haunt the hosts

Anup Kumar (L) will need to ensure complacency does not creep in once again

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.