Muhammad Ahmed shared at 03:39:33 am on April 11, 2010 |

Tag(s): Kabaddi, Pak-Ind

Traditional rivals and circle Kabaddi giants Pakistan and hosts India will cross swords in the final of the inaugural World Cup Kabaddi Punjab-2010, carrying a prize purse of Rs 2.2 crore, at the Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana, India on April 12.

Witnessed by more than 75,000 spectators, formidable Pakistan and powerful India recorded authoritative victories in their semi-final encounters played at the Sports Stadium on Saturday. Well-trained Pakistan displayed their power kabaddi, catching and raiding, to regularly collect points and eventually recorded a 57-33 triumph.

Captained by Imtiaz Alam, Pakistan were leading by 27-19 at half time. The trend in the beginning indicated that it would be a close match but superior Pakistanis implemented their game plan systematically and slowly tilted the balance in their favour. Imtiaz was the inspiration for Pakistan with his raids. He secured nine points. Babbar Gujjar, known as Prince of Pakistan, also proved himself a robust raider as he gained seven points. Afran Ludhiania proved himself a formidable raider. He contributed ten valuable points for his team. Akhtar Pathan was the other Pakistan raider who held the spotlight with six points. With his firm grip Yaser Javed got four points out of his seven stoppings.

Italian captain Kamaljit Kala kept his country’s flag flying high. With his lightening raid, Kala earned 11 points for his team. He was well supported by Channa Kheriwali and Daljit Singh Lamber who got six and four points respectively. Jaspal Singh Jassa got three points.

Meanwhile, encouraged by the home crowd, India outplayed Canada by 51-36. Canada were handicapped with the absence of their star raider Sandeep Singh Lallian who had to watch the proceedings from the sideline as he is nursing injury suffered in an earlier match. Hardawinder Singh Dulla, Lakwinder Singh Singh Laddi, Sukhbir Singh Saravan and Sandeep Singh Sukhpuria engineered Indian’s well-merited victory over Canada. Kulwinder Singh Bihari Puria and Kuldeep Singh Sukhpuria were the main raiders for Canada. Indian captain Mangat Singh Mangi Bagga got six points from his 11 tries to stop the Canadian raiders.

Kuljit Singh Malsihan was the best Canadian raider by securing 15 points from his 17 fast raids.

More than 75,000 spectators thronged the Sports Stadium to witness the semi-final matches. A large number of kabaddi fans were disappointed as they could not get entry into the stadium as the seating capacity was enough to accommodate them.