Junior Kabaddi World Championship 2023: India vs Pakistan live updates

08:00 PM: Hello and welcome to Khel Now's Live Blog of Junior Kabaddi World Championship 2023 semifinal match between India and Pakistan.

India is set to face arch-rival Pakistan in the semifinal of the Junior World Kabaddi Championship 2023. The Indian team will have a chance to qualify for the finals in their very first appearance in the competition.

The 2nd edition of the World Junior Kabaddi Championships begun on 28th February and will end on 4th March 2023 in Urmia, Iran. The tournament is organised and held in Iran for the second successive time with the host winning the inaugural edition. India after having missed out last time made its strong presence in this edition. Several players who performed well in the inaugural edition got an opportunity to shine at the Pro Kabaddi League (Chiyaneh, Reza Mirbhageri, and Bastami).

India progressed to the semifinals of the 2nd Junior World Kabaddi Championship. After playing two back-to-back group matches and topping the group, India defeated Asian compatriots Chinese Taipei 54-36. Nepal and Iraq played the match of the tournament so far with the former beating the latter by a mere point. Iran on the other hand defeated Bangladesh comfortably by 39 points and progressed to the second successive semifinals. Last edition finalist Kenya exited the competition after losing to Pakistan in the quarterfinals.

Srinivas Reddy former PKL coach and the current head coach of Bangladesh guided the side to a creditable quarterfinal finish. 

Indian Squad

Narender Kandola, Jai Bhagwan, Manjeet Sharma, Manu Deshwal, Abhijit Malik, Ankush Rathee, Ashish Malik, Sachin, Rohit Kumar, Vijyanth Jaglan, Yogesh Dahiya, and Sagar Kumar