By any chance if you missed today’s three matches; you missed brilliant shows from Korea, Japan and Iran. There were more than twenty overall all outs during the three games. While Iran topped the rank in doing the opponents all out (six in number), first timer like Argentina also managed to all out Korea twice.
The first match between Korea and Argentina was the most interesting among all three matches. The match went one sided in the first half and it felt like Argentina players weren’t aware of the rules of Kabaddi & kept giving themselves out by using lobby. In the first half, Argentina was all out four times by Korea. Korean players were doing super raids to take the match at interval with 43-11 lead.
The match became interesting in second half when Argentina players started showing off their little understanding of game by playing well. In the first half, Korea scored 23 raid points, 6 tackle points and 8 all out points with 6 extras while Argentina managed to gain only 10 raid points and 1 tackle point. The match ended in favour of Korea with 68-42, and became the first match ever in the history where a team scored maximum points.
The second match between USA and Japan was just like the first match as it went one sided as well. USA captain Tony was showing frustration on the mat while they were raided (many times) while Japan kept their calm. The first half and the game ended in favour of Japan in 49-15. There were instances where Japan could have scored more points as USA wasn’t doing well. With 15 raid points, 8 tackle points and 4 all out points Japan lead the first half and match. Masayuki from Japan maintained 100% raid record in the first and second half.
The last match of the day between Iran and Thailand also went one sided. The best part of the game was the defense of Iran. Suleman Pehlwani & Fazal were visible doing their raiding and earning defense points as well. While Iran kept substituting their raiders to experiment the defense of Iran was the scoring area as there they got 20 points. On the other hand, Thailand had only two professional players on the mat and rest others were university or high-school students. Iran won the match with 30 points margin scoring 64 points all together.
All the three matches played today were entertaining and going to change the pool standings & scoreboard a lot. Iran has +78% in their rate which is too strong an aspect to make them contenders for the final. While the new teams are capable of changing the table and match any time experience teams like India, Korea, Iran and Japan are feeling threat from them.