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Kenya lose second match in Kabaddi World Cup

By ISAAC SWILA October 12th, 2016 2 min read

Kenya’s quest to qualify for the semifinal of the Kabaddi World Cup took a major dent after they lost 28-33 to Iran in a fierce Group B battle in Ahmedabad, India, in their second match of the tournament on Tuesday evening.

The defeat by five points to the Asian side means that Kenya must win its match against Thailand on Thursday evening.

In the 40 minute duel, Kenya showed intent when danger man David Mosombayi made an empty raid in the first second.

However, they could not build on this momentum and sluggish defending and weak grip saw Iran break Kenya’s wall to make a successful raid through Abolfazl Maghsoudlou.

The early misses continued to haunt Kenya as Patrick Muvai also made an empty raid after 55 seconds giving Iran a chance to make it 2-0 after 1.17 minutes when Nabibakhsh made another successful raid.

SUCCESSFUL RAID

Kenya’s first successful raid came after four minutes when Isaac Ikigu showed grit and power to break the barrier.

From here, the two sides continued to exchange raids with Kenya getting better as the battle wore on, but they paid the ultimate price of slow start to lose by five points.

Kenya, who are relatively inexperienced in the sport, had a remarkable start in their first match on Saturday beating Poland 54-48.

In another contest staged at the same venue on Tuesday, hosts and tournament favourites India crushed Bangladesh 57-20 to make it two wins out of three.

India suffered a shock setback losing 32-34 to South Korea in Ahmedadab on day one before bouncing back to hit Australia 54-20 on Saturday.

Kenya, who are in Group B together with Japan, Iran and Poland will face Thailand before Bangladesh flexes muscles with South Korea. Group A has hosts India, England, Australia, Korea, Bangladesh and Argentina.