India win both Commonwealth Kabaddi titles: Men beat Sri Lanka, women beat Uganda

India have won both titles at the first Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship. On Saturday (31 October) in Ahmedabad, the men beat Sri Lanka 54-20 in their final, after the women beat Uganda 35-15 to become the tournament’s first women’s champions.

Both finals were played at the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex in Ahmedabad. The inaugural edition began on 23 October, with 13 nations taking part in the men’s competition.

The men’s final was one-sided from the start. India raced to a 6-1 lead, were 15-7 up at the first break and led 30-10 at half-time before closing out a 34-point win, according to The Sporting News’ live coverage.

Surjeet Singh’s side were unbeaten on the way to the title. They beat Sri Lanka 45-24 in the group stage and thrashed Bangladesh 56-27 in the semi-final on Friday.

India’s women, the reigning world champions led by captain Nidhi Sharma, went through the tournament unbeaten, winning all six of their matches. In the final, India led only 7-3 midway through the first half before pulling clear to lead 22-7 at half-time. For Uganda, Nakayongo Shirat scored 11 of their 15 points. Sakshi was the top scorer with nine raid points, Anu added six and Nidhi Sharma five. In defence, Ritu and Suman picked up four tackle points each.

On the way to the final, the women beat Malaysia 73-13, Singapore 32-16, Uganda 41-18 and Nigeria 38-10, before getting past Sri Lanka 39-14 in the semi-final.

“I am very happy that we won the final. We won by performing well as a team,” Sakshi said after the women’s final, according to IANS.