Hiten Shukla
The 67th Senior National Kabaddi Championship was concluded today in Jaipur. Indian Railways continued their unbeaten run as both men & women secured the gold medal for the 2nd time in a row. The first semi-final was between the home team Rajasthan and defending champions Indian Railways in which Railways beat Rajasthan with a score of 46 – 23. Captain Pawan Sehrawat scored 14 raid points to take his team to victory. The second semi-final between Services and Uttar Pradesh resulted in a win for the in-form Services team who won with a score of 49 -31. Nitin Tomar was at his best as he scored 13 raid points for his team and Sandeep scored 6 tackle points helping their team to reach the finals.
The finals between Indian Railways and Services was a tight clash as both teams fought hard to win the championship. Services fought hard and were leading at half time giving the defending champions a scare, but the Railways held their nerve and pulled it back in the last few minutes to secure their victory. With the raiding unit struggling to fire, Indian Railways’ veteran defence came to the fore. Ravinder Pahal, Dharmaraj Cheralathan and Sunil Kumar scored four tackle points amongst themselves to start the half, leaving Services with just two men on the mat. Both captains Rohit Kumar and Pawan Sehrawat kept their calm as the match was moving towards the end but it was the Indian Railways who came on top in the end and won for the second consecutive year in the Senior Kabaddi Championship.
Both captains participating in the finals, Pawan Sehrawat and Rohit Kumar are good friends and have shared a great bond on mat together while playing for Bengaluru Bulls in vivo Pro Kabaddi League. They led their teams in Senior Kabaddi Championship to the finals through their composure and guided their teams to the top 2 positions in the championship.
Indian Railways captain Pawan Sehrawat speaks about his team’s performance, “We weren’t taking too much pressure upon ourselves and the opposite team was also equally good, we had decided that we’ll be playing our own game and try to win doing so and fortunately that is exactly what happened. We did face a few problems as all three raiders were being tackled but that didn’t affect our team too much as the defence was playing well. Throughout the tournament both the raiders and defenders complimented each other well and that is why I believe we have emerged victorious.”
The women’s semi-finals saw Indian Railways cruising their way to the finals by beating Jharkhand women with a score of 39 – 18 while Himachal Pradesh women out performed Haryana with a score line of 22 – 34 to enter the finals. The final match was an exciting one as Himachal Pradesh women gave the defending champions Indian Railways a tough fight but Sonali Shingate’s exceptional performance of 13 raid points helped her team to achieve victory for the second time in a row.
