Japan downs Poland in Kabaddi WC 2016

Japan on Wednesday secured a comfortable win over Poland as their defence put in a solid performance and remain on course for a semi final berth in the ongoing 2016 Kabaddi World Cup at 'The Arena by TransStadia'.

Japan recorded its second successive win by defeating Poland 33-22 in Group B. Captain Masayuki Shimokawa led from the front and scored seven points as Japan maintained a 100 percent record in the World Cup.

Poland have still not won any of the matches and are slowly coming to terms with the finer points of Kabaddi.

Japan leapfrogged Kenya in the table and are now second in Group B with 10 points from two games. Poland are rooted to the bottom of table with one point from three games.

Japan opened their account with a bonus point in the second minute while Poland leveled the score in third minute after two empty raids. It was a cagey start from both teams and raiders struggled to get into the game and Japan led 2-1 after minutes. Poland had a slew of empty raids and Japan capitalized on it to lead 4-1 after seven minutes. Kazuhiro Takano scored his third raid point as Japan led 6-1 in the 10th minute.

Poland captain Michal Spiczko opened his account with a two-point raid as his team looked to him for some inspiration. Jan Baranowicz followed his captain's lead with two points of his own and Poland trailed 5-6 after 12 minutes. Masayuki Shimokawa scored his first points with a two-point raid as Japan inflicted an all out in the 15th minute as Japan opened a sizeable gap to lead 16-7.

Jan Baranowicz got Poland back into the game with three points from two raids with Japan leading 18-10. Polish defence didn't get a hold into the game and failed to score a single tackle point in the first half. Japan, on the other hand, worked well as a defensive unit in the first half and led 19-10 at the break.

Poland scored their first tackle point in the 23rd minute as they trailed 11-21. Spiczko scored with a two-point raid as Poland reduced the gap to eight points after 27 minutes. Japan, however, were a few paces of ahead of Poland in all aspects of the game and led 27-15 after 30 minutes. Jan Baranowicz was the lone bright spark for Poland as he scored most of his team's raid points.

With five minutes to go Japan led 28-18 and were completely in control. Surprisingly Poland had more raid points than Japan but it was their defence that put in a disappointing performance and scored just two points.