Asian Games
India Kabaddi squad at Asian Games 2023: Full team, Schedule, Medal chances
Indian Kabaddi team at Asian Games 2023: Can men's and women's teams bring back the gold medal lost to Iran in 2018?
Pawan Sehrawat (right) is most likely to lead the Indian Kabaddi team for the upcoming Asian Games.
Kabaddi is one of the sports where India has been a dominant force for decades. But the dominance was broken by Iran in the 2018 Asian Games when both men's and women's teams took gold.
Both Indian teams will be looking to get back the lost glory at the 2018 Asian Games.
Indian Kabaddi Squad at Asian Games 2023
Men's team: Pawan Kumar Sehrawat, Nitesh Kumar, Parvesh Bhainswal, Sunil Kumar, Nitin Rawal, Surjeet Singh, Vishal Bharadwaj, Sachin Tanwar, Arjun Deshwal, Aslam Inamdar, Akash Shinde and Naveen Kumar Goyat.
Women's team: Akshima, Jyoti, Pooja, Pooja, Priyanka, Pushpa, Sakshi Kumari, Ritu Negi, Nishi Sharma, Sushma Sharma, Snehal Shinde.
Kabaddi Schedule at Asian Games 2023
Monday, 2nd October
01:00 PM- Women's - India v Chinese Taipei
Tuesday, 3rd October
06:00 AM- Men's- India v Bangladesh
01:30 PM- Women's- India v Korea
Wednesday, 4th October
06:00 AM- Men's- India v Thailand
01:30 PM- Women's - India v Thailand
Thursday, 5th October
08:00 AM- Men's - India v Chinese Taipei
01:30 PM- Women's - India v Japan
Friday, 6th October
07:00 AM onwards- Women's semis
12:30 PM onwards- Men's semis
Saturday, 7th October
07:00 AM- Women's Final
12:30 PM- Men's Final
Medal Chances in Kabaddi at Asian Games 2023
Men's Team:
The Indian men's team is coming on the back of a solid victory in the Asian Kabaddi Championships where India steamrolled past all the teams without much difficulty.
Led by the experienced Pawan Kumar, the Indian team has a good mix of young and experienced players making it a formidable side. The likes of Aslam Inamdar, Arjun Deshwal, and Naveen Kumar come with a lot of experience in the Pro Kabaddi League.
India's major hurdle is going to be Iran but the Iranian team is young without much experience. Only Nabibaksh, Fazel, and Shadlu carry considerable experience in top-level Kabaddi.
But complacency cost India a gold medal last time, they won't be taking anyone lightly this time.
Women's Team:
The women's team will also have the same opponent, Iran to be wary about. The current Indian team has a lot of experienced players who were part of the 2018 silver medal-winning team.
The Iranian team visited India recently for an exposure tour. The women's team shouldn't be facing any hurdles in the group stage, it is only Iran they have to be careful about.
Performance at the 2018 Asian Games
The 2018 Asian Games was the worst showing for India in Kabaddi. For the first time, both men's and women's teams didn't win the gold medal in the event.
The men's team lost to Iran in the semi-finals and finished with the bronze medal while the women's lost the final to Iran to win the silver medal.
India at Asian Games: Kabaddi Records
Kabaddi was introduced to the Asian Games at the 1990 Asian Games and women's Kabaddi started in the 2010 Asian Games.
India has been the most successful team in the history of both men's and women's teams. In eight appearances, the men's team has won seven gold and one bronze.
In three appearances, the women's team won two gold and one silver.
India won consecutive eight titles in the men's category until 2018 when the Iranian men's team broke India's dominance. Similarly, the women's team also lost the gold in 2018 to Iran.
