Perfect Pakistan outplay Kenya in Kabaddi Masters Group A tie

Pakistan demolished minnows Kenya 43-21 in a Group B match of the Kabaddi Masters at the Al Wasl Sports Club here on Sunday.

In a lopsided affair, apart from initial couple of minutes, African champions Kenya never looked in contention as they were thrown on the mat regularly.

Pakistan, who were playing this match with a full strength line-up, seemed a different side from their previous match against India as they were brilliant in both offence and defence.

Pakistan coach Nabeel Ahmed also reckoned the same and said the defence and coordination were much better in this game as compared to the last one.

"Our defence was in better position against Kenya. That (against India) was out first match and didn't get time to acclimatise. Today is different thing, we are much more confident and will continue this momentum in our next game against India.

"We are better today. Everyone has seen that. Our raiders and defenders played really well," the coach added.

In the second match of the day, both teams started off on a positive note, Pakistan were taking some time on the mat to get used to the condition while Kenya were aggressive right from the start.

The first five minutes saw a good battle between the two teams. Both Pakistan and Kenya were taking points in the third raid, also known as the do-or-die raid.

But after 10 minutes, the situation changed when Pakistan inflicted an all-out to make it 10-2.

After that, there was no looking back for Pakistan as they made another all-out with just three minutes remaining to the first half to make 20-2 and then made 23-5 to end the first half.

The second half saw Pakistan making fiery attacks on the Kenyans and the African side had no answer to them.

Pakistan almost played with seven players on the mat through the second half while Kenya gave away easy points. The African team tried to score some points and they were also successful towards the last but could not overhaul Pakistan's lead.

Earlier, South Korea outplayed Argentina 72-16 in a lopsided Group B contest. The lack of experience was clearly seen on the mat as the Argentina players were committing silly mistakes and gifting away some loose points.

Gyung Tae Kim got a super 10 for the Asian team as their raiders had a field day scoring points. Kim ended up with 13 points.

(Gaurav Sharma can be contacted at gaurav.sharma@iansin)

--IANS

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