In an unexpected start to its campaign, the Indian women’s kabaddi team was on Monday held to a surprise 34-34 draw by Chinese Taipei in a Group A match at the Asian Games here.
The Indians were made to work hard throughout the contest by their opponents, who earned a bonus point on the last raid of the match to force a draw. The women side’s next assignment will be against South Korea on Tuesday, while the men’s team will take on Bangladesh in their Group A match. India team official V. Tejaswini Bai attributed the draw to nervousness and asserted that her girls will win gold.
“Our team will fight and our team will win. Today we were a little bit nervous, but from now on we will be more relaxed and we will win. I believe and I hope we will win gold.” She added the Chinese Taipei team had improved over the years. “They are a very good team and they have improved a lot. They are very focussed in kabaddi and I’m happy for that.” After seeing today’s performance, kabaddi aficionados would have been reminded of the shocking defeat the Indian women’s team suffered at the hands of a gritty Iranian side in the gold medal match at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games.
