Hangzhou: The Indian women's kabaddi team has reclaimed the gold medal in Asian Games after a five-year gap, beating Chinese Taipei by one point in a dramatic final at Hangzhou’s Xiaoshan Guali Sports Centre on Saturday, taking India’s medal tally to 100.
This was India's third gold in women's kabaddi which was introduced in the 2010 Asian Games. India won gold in the 2010 and 2014 editions but settled for silver in 2018 after losing to Iran 24-27 in the final.
In the 2023 final, the Indian team was run close by first-timers Chinese Taipei, who had stunned defending champions Iran in the semifinals, before emerging 26-25 winner at full time.
India was well ahead at 14-9 at the end of the first half after getting eight Chinese Taipei players out and bagging six bonus points. Chinese Taipei got six players out and claimed one bonus point as the Indians defended well.
Chinese Taipei narrowed down India's lead to 16-14 soon after resumption. the Indians got eight players out but managed only two bonus points while Chinese Taipei recorded 12 outs and just one bonus point.
With less than five minutes remaining on the clock, Chinese Taipei won a crucial video referral as the scoreline read 19-17 in India's favour.
Chinese Taipei claimed four points, two from the raid and two for sending India All Out.
India’s Pooja then got one point from her raid to reduce the margin to 20-21. The next Chinese Taipei raider could not get any points and the onus was on India to make things even.
At this point, Captain Ritu Negi took a masterstroke of a decision as she stopped Pushpa from going for a raid. She sent Pooja instead who did a marvellous job as India got two points to lead 22-21.
It was not over yet and the match got more intense as the two teams were locked 22-22, 23-23 and then 24-24.
At that stage, raider Pushpa won a point for India as 53 seconds were left on the clock. Chinese Taipei took a review but that was turned down, sealing the fate of the match in favour of India.
Chinese Taipei won a point through their raider to reduce the score to 25-26. The Indians played out the remaining few seconds before jumping into each other's arms in celebration.
"We worked really hard after losing the gold in the 2018 Asian Games. We waited for five year but our hard work paid off," said captain Ritu Negi who was also a part of the silver-winning team at the 2018 Asian Games.
Coach Edachery Bhaskaran said, "Our players were a bit nervous towards the end but they kept themselves under control and ultimately pulled off the win”.
"Chinese Taipei are now a very strong side. They have trained in India in the past and will keep on improving. We also have to work harder and maintain our hold," he added.
With inputs from agencies