Mixed day for hosts

Kabaddi National Championships : Men's team lose to Maharashtra, defeat Bengal

It was a mixed day for the Karnataka men's team as they recovered from a hard-fought 17-19 loss to Maharashtra before trouncing West Bengal 43-25 in the 63rd Senior National Kabaddi Championships at the Malleswaram grounds here on Wednesday.

With a full house of 10,000 odd fans backing the home side, Prashanth Rai and Sukesh Hegde put in superb performances against West Bengal as Karnataka raced to a 8-0 lead within the first few minutes of the game.

Rai and Hegde were on fire as they scored with successive raids to deflate a Bengal side that didn't get a look into the game for a prolonged period.

While the raiders were piling on the points, the defence impressed too with Rajaguru and BS Santosh leading the line in a disciplined display.

Karnataka raced to 25-8 lead in the first half with Bengal still finding their feet. The second half was a more evenly contested affair as Bengal began to look more solid in defence.

Karnataka changed their tactics as they decided to rest Rai and Hegde. Lokesh was assigned raiding duties but he failed to impress.

But with a massive lead accumulated in the first half, Karnataka kept Bengal at bay, while consistently maintaining an 18-point lead to clinched the tie with ease.

Hegde top scored with 16 points from 13 raids while Rai collected 15 points in just nine raids.

Earlier, Karnataka squandered a 14-5 lead at half-time to go down 17-19 to a Kashiling Adake-inspired-Maharasthra side in a low scoring affair.

In the first half, Karnataka's lone bright spark, Santosh, defended supremely to ensure that none of Maharashtra's raids amounted to anything.

Adake and Rishank Devadiga endured one failed raid after another but in the second half, Karnataka made elementary errors defensively to gift the game to their opponents.

Adake looked a completely different player in the latter stages as he consistently scored with his raids, while his counterparts from the opposition, Rai and Hegde were found wanting as they lacked creativity and tactics offensively.

In another fixture, a tense fight ensued between Pro Kabaddi League stars Anup Kumar of Haryana and Ajay Thakur, representing Himachal Pradesh.

The Thakur-led Haryana side went in to the break, leading 12-9. The game turned in to a free scoring affair in the second half as Thakur spurred his side to a 30-22 victory.

In the women's category, Karnataka edged past West Bengal 5-4 in a match where both teams defended resolutely.

Results:

Men: Group A: Kerala bt Jharkhand: 58-31; Services bt Jharkhand: 49-19; Services bt Kerala: 43-21; Group B: Haryana bt Himachal Pradesh: 30-22; Haryana bt Manipur: 43-25; Himachal Pradesh bt Gujarat: 55-21; Group C: Rajasthan bt Puducherry: 56-24; Group D: Uttar Pradesh bt Telengana: 28-16; Madhya Pradesh bt Puducherry: 45-24; Rajasthan bt Assam: 32-11; Group E: Maharashtra bt Karnataka: 19-17; Karnataka bt West Bengal: 43-25; Maharashtra bt Andhra: 45-21; Group F: Indian Railway bt Delhi: 48-20; Indian Railway bt Chandigarh: 45-27; Delhi bt Punjab: 37-28.

Women: Group A: Indian Railway bt Madhya Pradesh: 56-12; Group B: Chattisgarh bt Kerala: 42-33; Group C: Uttar Pradesh bt Manipur: 27-16; Group E: Delhi bt Tamil Nadu: 31-18; Group F: Chandigarh bt West Bengal: 35-9.