Iran produced some great defending to enter the final of the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup with a 28-22 win over South Korea in the first semi-final in Ahmedabad on Friday.

In a cagey opening, South Korea began with a slender 6-3 lead. Their captain Jang Kun Lee executed an all-out in the 12th minute as they went ahead 10-4. But Iran's captain Meraj Sheykh started getting into the game and pulled off three raids to tighten the gap. At the half-way mark, the score read 13-11 with South Korea holding a narrow lead.

But this time it was Iran's turn to execute an all-out and they evened things back at 15-15. By this point, they were on a roll and two successful raids later had taken the lead at 17-15. Sheykh then took down Lee to extend his team's lead to four points.

South Korea fought back though with some strong defence to reduce the deficit but Iran kept their noses in front, again through their captain Sheykh who pulled off a do-or-die raid and got the bonus point. Despite Korea edging back, Iran got a big break by taking down Korea's captain Lee and going on to capitalise in the do-or-die raid to lead 26-20.

With two minutes left in the game, a heroic tackle and a super-tackle helped Korea narrow the deficit down to four points but Iran did not miss their chances as they took another two more points to win 28-22.

Iran will meet the winner of India and Thailand in the final.