India thrash newbies Kenya in Kabaddi Masters

India continued their dominance at the Kabaddi Masters as they overpowered Kenya 48-19 in their second Group A match at the Al Wasl Sports Club here on Saturday.

India were brilliant in both offence and defence while Kenya struggled to hold India's tsumani of points. Left-corner Girish Maruti, Monu Goyat, Rishank made it look like a cakewalk and thrashed newbies Kenya with huge margin.

India as usual started off perfectly, taking five points lead straightaway. Ajay Thakur-led side was close to make their opponents all-out when Rishank made a superb raid to make two-player affair for Kenya.

After seven minutes, India inflicted an all out to make score read 12-3.

Debutant Monu, who came in limelight after Haryana Steelers bought the player for a hefty price, felt the pressure initially as he failed to make successful raids.

After 10 minutes of play, Kenya changed their strategy and started attacking as their raiders bagged few good points to make it 8-15. Their defence, however, leaked few points.

Rishank continued to shine on the mat as he snatched few more points from both the corners to make it 18-9. Monu also joined the party, after settling his nerves the youngster started collecting points with ease.

The Indian defence also displayed some brilliant coordination and inflicted another all out in the 18th minute. Deepak Hooda then completed the proceeding of the first half through a brilliant raid which swell India lead to 18 points.

The story of second half remained same, with making tsunami of points and Kenya struggling for hold India.

Monu and Rishank continuously took points in almost every raid. With just 12 minutes of game remaining, Monu helped India earn another all-out as he touched four players to take the score to 34-12 which turned to 37-12 following the all-out.

In the dying minutes, Rishank made a brilliant raid and sent three players out to make it one-man affair to Kenya. In the last, Kenya managed to steal couple of points but failed to overhaul India's score and thus lost the issue.

Earlier, in the day's first match, Iran, who came into the tournament without their star players, produced a commanding performance with a 54-24 victory over Argentina in a Group-B match.

The inexperienced Argentina side were no match for their counterparts and struggled to trouble Iran.

Towards the end, newbies Argentina displayed some good skills, but they failed to match the Iran's power.

--IANS

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