India continues to dominate world kabaddi in 2016
The Indian men's and women's kabaddi team continued to dominate the world in 2016. The two successful editions of Pro Kabaddi league were played; 2016 also saw the first-edition of Women's Pro Kabaddi League. Indian men's and women's team clinched gold at 12th South Asian Games and the men's team won their third world cup. Let's see how India fared in Kabaddi in 2016.
In 2016, India was host to South Asian Games in January and the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup in October. Also, the Pro Kabaddi League saw two editions being played, one in January to March and the other in June-July, 2016. One of the most successful kabaddi players in world, Anup Kumar bid adieu to the international kabaddi in October.
The 12th edition of South Asian Games was held in Guwahati from 5-16 February. India were the defending champions in kabaddi and also the tournament favorites. Both men's and women's team were participants in the tournament and finished by winning gold medals. Men's kabaddi team defeated their arch rivals Pakistan in the finals while women's team defeated Bangladesh.
After a successful second season last year, Pro Kabaddi League returned in 2016 with two editions being spread over 10 weeks. While the first edition was played from 30 January to 5 March, the second edition was played from 25 June to 31 July. Both the editions were won by Patna Pirates, thus winning their first and second title in the same year.
First edition of Women's Pro Kabaddi League took off in June, with three teams participating. Storm Queens, Fire Birds and Ice Divas were the three teams, with Storm Queens defeating Fire Birds in the finals.
India hosted the standard size Kabaddi World Cup from 7-22 October 2016 at Ahmedabad. Though India had won the previous two editions, they started off with a loss at Ahmedabad. But, the winning streak started after that and the hosts finished the tournament by lifting the cup after defeating one of the strong contenders, Iran. India won the match 38-29.
After winning third world cup title for India, captain Anup Kumar retired from international kabaddi. Having made his debut in the national team in 2006, he was bestowed with Arjuna Award in 2012. He is also the captain of Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) team U Mumbai and guided the team to finals in 2014 and 2016. Anup will continue to play in the PKL.
