Home » Sports » India win Commonwealth Kabaddi double with men’s final over Sri Lanka
India secured the men’s title at the inaugural Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship 2026 by defeating Sri Lanka 54-20, completing a double as the Indian women’s team earlier triumphed over Uganda 35-15 in the women’s final.
Aditya Shinde led India’s attack with a Super 10, scoring 10 raid points from 14 raids, including four bonus points. Bharat Hooda contributed eight raid points in the second half, remaining untackled in seven raids. Pankaj Mohite added six points, while vice-captain Naveen Kumar scored five. Yogesh Dahiya dominated the defence, achieving a High 5 with five successful tackles from five attempts in the first half. Shubham Shinde, captain Surjeet Singh, Pravesh Malik and Deepak Sankar each contributed two tackle points.
India amassed 30 raid points and 14 tackle points, imposed four All-Outs on Sri Lanka, and did not concede any. Sri Lanka’s top scorer was Maduwantha with six tackle points, including two Super Tackles, while Ansaf and Viduranga added three points each. However, Sri Lanka’s raiders struggled throughout; Sabihan, Milinda Chathuranga and Viduranga, who had led scoring in their semi-final win over Kenya, combined for only five raid points from 31 raids in the final. Sri Lanka completed the match with 11 raid points and nine tackle points, failing in seven of nine do-or-die raids.
India led 15-8 with 10 minutes left in the first half after already inflicting an All-Out, then outscored Sri Lanka 15-2 to lead 30-10 at half-time, with a second All-Out near the half’s end. Sri Lanka managed only two successful raids from 21 in the first half, while India made nine successful tackles from 10 attempts. India inflicted two more All-Outs in the second half, the last within the final five minutes, winning the second half 24-10. Overall, India completed 24 successful raids from 40 attempts, compared with Sri Lanka’s seven from 41.
Commenting after the match, top scorer Aditya Shinde said, “With more and more tournaments being held, it’s great for the people of Ahmedabad too, and we received so much support from them. We hope everyone comes out to support us the same way in the competitions ahead. There will be a celebration, a really big one, and it’s already going on here!”
India’s title concluded a flawless campaign with eight wins from eight matches. They topped Group A with six victories over England (46-26), Uganda (44-30), Malaysia (37-23), Nigeria (50-23), Tanzania (48-20) and Sri Lanka (45-24). India then defeated Bangladesh 56-27 in the semi-final and Sri Lanka 54-20 in the final. Across the tournament, India scored 380 points and conceded 193, with no opponent managing more than 30 points against them.
This story is written by TNM Bureau with inputs from ANI. The News Mill is a Guwahati-based digital media with focus on content from across Northeast India and beyond. We can be reached through [email protected]
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