LAHORE - Canada kicked off Faisalabad leg of Kabaddi World Cup 2020 with a close 40-31 victory against Azerbaijan while Iran whipped Germany by a huge margin of 55-23 in the second match on the 4th day of grand tournament at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad on Wednesday.
England kabaddi team thrashed Sierra Leone by 41-26 in the third match of the day. Canada’s Naveen was adjudged the best raider while the title of the best stopper went to Canada’s Ravi Kumar in the first match. Iran’s Mesal Muhammadi and captain Ali Safari were declared the best raider and stopper of the second match respectively.
Advisor to Chief Minister Punjab on Sports Malik Umer Farooq, MPA Latif Gujjar, Secretary Youth Affairs, Sports, Archeology and Tourism Punjab Ehsan Bhutta and DG Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh, who were the guests of honour, distributed prizes among the best players of the matches.
Deputy Commissioner Faisalabad Muhammad Ali, CPO Muhammad Sohail Ch, President Pakistan Kabaddi Federation (PKF) Ch Shafay Hussain, Secretary PKF Rana Sarwar and top officials of law enforcing departments were also present on this occasion.
Earlier, Advisor to Chief Minister Punjab on Sports Malik Umer Farooq, Secretary Youth Affairs, Sports, Archeology and Tourism Punjab Ehsan Bhutta and DG Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh warmly received the kabaddi teams upon reaching Faisalabad. The kabaddi lovers also witnessed entertaining horse dance on this occasion.
It is pertinent mention here that Kabaddi World Cup 2020 is being organized jointly by Punjab govt, Sports Board Punjab and Pakistan Kabaddi Federation (PKF) at three cities of Punjab Lahore, Faisalabad and Gujrat from February 9 to 16, 2020.
Azerbaijan won the toss but they could not launch their campaign against comparatively strong Canada team with confidence. Canadian raiders and stoppers took initiative but Azerbaijan offered some resistance in the middle stages of the exciting clash and managed to minimize the margin of defeat but Canada emerged winners.
In the second match, Iran won the toss and dominated the match proceedings from the beginning. Iran were leading by 18-7 at the end of first quarter, 44-19 at the end of second quarter and finally wrapped up their comfortable triumph with a score of 55-23. Iran’s raider Mustafa Sadqi, Mustafa Pheeni, Mir Muhammdi and Germany’s Manpreet Singh Manna got huge appreciation from the large crowd due to their impressive performance in the match.
Today (Thursday), Iran will face India in the first match at 1.30pm while the second match will be played between Sierra Leone and Germany at 2.45pm. Hosts Pakistan will take on Australian kabaddi team at 4.00pm in the third and last match of the 5th day activity.