India stormed into the semi-finals of the Kabaddi Masters tournament in Dubai after beating arch rivals Pakistan for the second time, this time by a 41-17 scoreline on Monday. India had beaten Pakistan 36-20 in the tournament opener last week.
Skipper Ajay Thakur, along with fellow raiders Rohit Kumar and Monu Goyat scored points with ease on Monday to lead India to a comfortable victory. In defence, it was Girish Ernak who did the most damage to Pakistan as he scored five tackle points.
Pakistan can still qualify for the semi-finals if they beat Kenya in their next match.
Rohit Kumar opened India’s account in the third minute and scored again with a super raid a few minutes later as India took an early 6-1 lead. Pakistan were staring at an all out when Muhammad Nadeem got a raid point in the seventh minute to reduce the gap to 8-3.
India inflicted an all out eventually in the ninth minute to extend their lead to 12-3. Pakistan’s defence just couldn’t get it going in the first 10 minutes as they failed to score a single tackle point. Ajay Thakur also got into the action as the first half wore on, even as India went into the break leading 18-9.
As the second half began, Rishank Devadiga scored with a two-point raid in the 23rd minute to give India a 20-11 lead. Thakur then scored a two-point raid as well in the 25th minute as India inflicted another all out to lead 25-11.
After 32 minutes, Pakistan trailed 13-30 and had little hope of making a comeback. Monu Goyat scored with a successful raid in the 34th minute to give India a 32-14 lead. Pakistan forced a super tackle in the 35th minute to cut the lead to 16 points. However, Goyat scored another two-point raid as India inflicted an all out in the 37th minute to stretch their lead to 38-16. The final score read 41-17.