Victories for Canada, Iran and England in Kabaddi World Cup

LAHORE: Canada kicked off Faisalabad leg of Kabaddi World Cup 2020 with a close 40-31 victory against Azerbaijan while Iran whipped Germany by a huge margin of 55-23 in the second match on the fourth day of grand tournament at Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad Wednesday.

England thrashed Sierra Leone 41-26 in the third match of the day.

Canada’s Naveen was adjudged best raider while the title of best stopper went to Canada’s Ravi Kumar in the first match. Iran’s Mesal Muhammadi and captain Ali Safari were declared best raider and stopper of the second match, respectively.

Azerbaijan won the toss but could not launch their campaign against comparatively strong Canada with confidence. Canadian raiders and stoppers took initiative but Azerbaijan offered some resistance in the middle stages of the exciting clash and managed to minimise the margin of defeat but Canada emerged winners.

In other match, Iran won the toss and dominated the match proceeding from the beginning. Iran were leading 18-7 at the end of first quarter, 44-19 at the end of second quarter and finally wrapped up their comfortable triumph with a score of 55-23. Iran’s raider Mustafa Sadqi, Mustafa Pheeni, Mir Muhammdi and Germany’s Manpreet Singh Manna got huge appreciation from the crowd due to their impressive performance.

Advisor to Chief Minister Punjab on Sports Malik Umer Farooq, MPA Latif Gujjar, Secretary Youth Affairs, Spo­rts, Archaeology and Tou­rism Punjab Ehsan Bhu­tta and DG Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh, who were the guests of honour, distributed prizes among the best players of the matches.

Deputy Commissioner Faisalabad Muhammad Ali, CPO Muhammad Sohail Ch, Pakistan Kabaddi Federation (PKF) President Ch Shafay Hussain, Secretary Rana Sarwar and top officials of law enforcement agencies were also present on the occasion.

Earlier, the teams were received warmly upon reaching Faisalabad. The kabaddi lov­e­rs also witnessed entertaining horse dance on the occasion.

Today’s matches schedule: Pakistan vs Australia; Iran vs India; Sierra Leone vs Germany.