Indian Railways crowned champions of 71st Senior National Women's Kabaddi Championship

Indian Railways won the National Women’s Kabaddi Championship after 2 editions.

Sonali Vishnu Shingate scripted a dramatic comeback as she helped Indian Railways beat their arch-rivals Himachal Pradesh in the finals of the 71st Senior National Women’s Kabaddi Championships. The competition was postponed four days to make the girls available for the Asian Women’s Kabaddi Championships.

It was an enthralling four-day competition with some high-octane Kabaddi action. The competition has a fitting finale which was decided on a Golden Raid. Indian Railways had won the toss and followed the traditional way of asking the opposition to raid first. The Railways were determined to win the finals having lost to Himachal Pradesh in the last two finals they played.

Indian Railways Women's Team becomes champion of 71st Senior National Kabaddi Championship 🙌 🤩They beat Himachal Pradesh in final to clinch the title after 2️⃣ editions 🔥#Kabaddi #KabaddiNationals #71stSeniorNationalKabaddiChampionship pic.twitter.com/xrlSTpAgX0

— Khel Kabaddi (@KhelNowKabaddi) February 18, 2025

Himachal qualified for the finals for the fourth consecutive year. But Railways were prepared to handle the hot favourites as they started to dominate the game right from the start. Although both the teams were attacking each other in the first five minutes, Railways took the lead in the next five minutes by getting the game all-out for the first time.

When it looked like Railways might take the lead, Himachal came back strongly and held on to the game, trailing 14-18 at half-time. As expected Railways slowed down the game in the second half, but Himachal played the waiting game to perfection as they seized the opportunity to build the momentum towards the end of the game.

Railways were on the verge of all-out but Sonali kept scoring a point to bring back a player onto the mat. The mat ended in a tie 27-27 with a tie-breaker deciding the winner. The Tie-breaker will have all seven players on the mat with each team will have five Raids each to score points. With the bulk line becoming the bonus line, both teams played high-line defense.

Surprisingly, both teams were willing to give one point and ensured the opposition not get more than one. Shagun from Himachal Pradesh and Mahima of Indian Railways tried going deep to get a bonus point, but they were unsuccessful. The Tie-breaker ended with five points each and the result was decided on a Golden Raid with Coin Toss deciding who would Raid.

It fell in the favour of Railways once again and there were celebrations immediately after winning during Toss Time. But Sonali knew she had to get the job done and a failed thigh hold from the cover defender resulted in Railways breaking the finals Jinx. Sonali’s comeback is a boost to Indian Kabaddi as the 2018 Asian Games silver medalist missed out on the bus in the 2022 edition and she will be raring to wear the Indian colors again.

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