Ahmedabad. The Indian men's team continued its excellent performance in the Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship 2026 and made it to the finals. In the semi-final match played on Friday, India defeated Bangladesh by a huge margin of 56-27. Now the Indian team will face Sri Lanka for the title, which won the ticket to the final by defeating Kenya 28-24 in the second semi-final.
In the match played at Veer Savarkar Sports Complex in Ahmedabad, Indian players kept pressure on Bangladesh from the beginning. Naveen Kumar and Neeraj Narwal took the lead in raiding, while Deepak S and Shubham Shinde strengthened the team in defence.
India took a lead of 20 points in the first half itself
At the beginning of the match, Bangladesh's Dipayon Golder opened his team's account with a successful raid, but the Indian players soon took control of the match. Within the first five minutes, India made its first all out.
After this, Bharat Hooda and Shivam Patare scored consecutive points in raiding. At the same time, the Indian defense also did not give Bangladesh players a chance to play freely. With eight minutes left in the first half, India made its second all out. Till half time the Indian team was leading 28-8. Bangladesh could not score a single tackle point in the first half.
The dominance of Indian players continued in the second half also
Even after the break, the pace of the Indian team did not slow down. The players continued to display strong defense along with aggressive raiding. With 10 minutes left in the match, India had taken a lead of 38-16.
Bharat Hooda continuously remained a challenge for Bangladesh's defence. Four minutes before the end of the match, India made another all out and took the score to 49-20. Ultimately the Indian team won the match 56-27.
Bharat Hooda scored maximum 13 points
Bharat Hooda was the biggest scorer in India's victory. He scored 13 points, while Shivam Patare contributed 11 points and Neeraj Narwal contributed nine points. Ajit Pawar also performed brilliantly in defence. He scored five marks from eight tackle attempts. The Indian team scored 37 raid points, 12 tackle points and six points through all outs in the entire match.
Sri Lanka made it to the final by defeating Kenya
The second semi-final saw a tough contest between Sri Lanka and Kenya. The Sri Lankan team entered the final by winning 28-24. For Sri Lanka, Milinda Chaturanga and Sabihan scored six points each, while Viduranga added four points. In defence, Maday Dwiki Sanjaya played a key role with five tackle points.
For Kenya, Helvik Wanjala scored nine points and Samuel Wafula scored six points, but could not lead the team to victory.
Captain Surjeet Singh said – Our aim is to win the title
Indian team captain Surjit Singh expressed happiness after reaching the final. He said that making it to the final of the first Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship is a matter of pride for the entire team. The morale of the players is high and the team wants to win the title by maintaining its unbeaten streak.
He said that the participation of 13 countries in this competition is an important step towards the expansion of Kabaddi at the international level. The performance of African teams has also been encouraging. Surjeet Singh expressed hope that talented players from these countries will get more opportunities in competitions like Pro Kabaddi League. This can also strengthen efforts to include Kabaddi in the 2030 Commonwealth Games and 2036 Olympics.
Title clash with Sri Lanka on Saturday night at 9 pm
The final of the Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship 2026 will be played on Saturday night at 9 pm. The Indian men's team will face the challenge of Sri Lanka. India will be eyeing to continue their unbeaten run and win their maiden Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship title.
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