National Games Kabaddi: Uttar Pradesh men, Himachal Pradesh women clinch gold

Men's

Uttar Pradesh beats Maharashtra ( 27-23 )

The showman Rahul Chaudhari was the star for Uttar Pradesh scoring a super 10 in the presence of a strong Maharashtra defence at the National Games. It was good to see Rahul Chaudhary get back to form after quite a few seasons. Jaipur Pink Panthers will be a happier side now in the PKL having bought Rahul Chaudhary at the right time.

The finale till the last raid looked balanced and had nothing to separate both teams. It was a defence-oriented game with the raiders relying mostly on do-or-die raids for the majority of the match. In the initial five minutes of the game, the raiders couldn't score a single point with Rahul, Aslam Inamdar, and Pankaj Mohite waiting for the opposition team to commit a mistake.

Uttar Pradesh capitalised on the most important point of the match in the 2nd half when they inflicted an all-out on Maharashtra at the latter stage. Maharashtra could have inflicted an all-out before Uttar Pradesh but failed to do so giving the advantage to UP.

Sankar Gadai the defender from Maharashtra scored 2 crucial points and helped his team stretch the match further and did not have much support from both their star raiders. In the end, it was Rahul Chaudhari's team who went on to win the National Games.

Women's

Himachal Pradesh beat Maharashtra ( 27-22 )

Himachal Pradesh the tournament favourites held onto their tag and are crowned the National Games champions in women's kabaddi. Himachal did not have a great start to the Games after being defeated by the same Maharashtra side in the opening encounter. The fightback was excellent winning all their games from their opening loss and clinching the title.

Himachal Pradesh had a slender lead at the end of 1st half leading by 4 points 14-10. But Maharashtra came back stronger in the 2nd half but couldn't match the level of Himachal Pradesh.