The Indian Kabaddi Team will begin their Asian Games campaign on 2nd October 2023. Both the Indian Men and Women’s teams are eyeing the gold medal. Both the teams lost the final and settled for silver in the previous edition in 2018.
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A total of 11 teams will participate in the Men’s Kabaddi event. The teams will be divided into two groups of six teams and five teams respectively. The groups are yet to be unveiled.
The Women’s event will the participation of a total of nine teams. The teams here will also be divided into two groups comprising five teams and four teams respectively.
Kabaddi schedule – Both Men and Women
- Group Matches – 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th October
- Semifinal – 6th October
- Final – 7th October
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Squads
The Men’s team comprise a total of 12 players. The team has star raiders Naveen Kumar, Pawan Sehrawat and Arjun Deshwal. Meanwhile the defence will be led by the experienced Nitesh Kumar, Parvesh Bhainswal, Surjeet Singh and Vishal Bhardwaj
Indian men’s kabaddi team: Nitesh Kumar, Parvesh Bhainswal, Sachin, Surjeet Singh, Vishal Bhardwaj, Arjun Deshwal, Aslam Inamdar, Naveen Kumar, Pawan Sehrawat, Sunil Kumar, Nitin Rawal, Akash Shinde.
The 12-member Women’s Kabaddi Squad has Sakshi Kumari, Sonali Vishnu Shingate and Ritu Negi. They were the only players from the silver medal winning squad from Jakarta 2018.
Indian women’s kabaddi team: Akshima, Jyoti, Pooja, Pooja, Priyanka, Pushpa, Sakshi Kumari, Ritu Negi, Nidhi Sharma, Sushma Sharma, Snehal Pradeep Shinde, Sonali Vishnu Shingat.
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India’s performance in previous editions
Men
Men’s Kabaddi was introduced for the first time in the 1990 Asian Games. Indian Men’s team has completely dominated by winning a whopping tally of seven gold medals so far from eight editions.
In the last edition, Iran ended India’s gold medal winning streak. India was defeated in the final and while Iran won the gold, India had to settle for silver. This time the Indians will be eager to take the revenge and looks to get back to the top of the podium.
Women
Women’s Kabaddi was introduced in the Asian Games in 2010. India won gold medal in the first two editions. However their win streak also came to an end in the previous edition. Iran defeated the Indian women in final. Like the men, the women also will want to get back to the top of the podium.