Women’s kabaddi team enters final

While everyone expected it to a walk in the park for the two-time Asiad gold medalist, the Indians were made to toil hard for a spot in the final. India got off to a flying start, taking a four-point lead at the end of three minutes. Taipei kept the scoreboard ticking with a couple of bonus points as the Indian defence was tough to break down in the early stages of the match. Trailing 2-7, the Chinese girls crawled their way back into the contest courtesy two super tackles on Randeep Kaur and Sonali Shingate.

But, both Randeep and Payel Chowdhury had two-point raids towards the final stages of the first half, giving India a narrow three-point lead going into the break. It led 11-8. The Indian girls finally stamped their authority, inflicting the first all-out of the last four clash in the fourth minute of the second half.

The Srinivas Reddy-coached team got a grip, dashing any hopes of an upset. India imposed another all-out in the last raid of the encounter, coming up trumps with a scoreline of 27-14. The sizeable Indian crowd, which also had World Cup winning coach Balwan Singh in it, was ecstatic after the triumph.