Kenya, Sri Lanka and Scotland shine at Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship

Hyderabad: Kenya and Sri Lanka won both their men’s and women’s matches, while Uganda and Scotland also made emphatic starts in the Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship at the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex in Ahmedabad on Friday.

In the men’s competition, Kenya beat Singapore 48-28, led by captain James Kamweti’s 19 raid points. Stephen Adongo added seven, and Samuel Wafula chipped in with eight points, half of them from tackles. Kenya finished with 32 raid points to Singapore’s 20 and 12 tackle points to six, and inflicted four All-Outs without conceding one. Muhammad Aidil Mutalib was Singapore’s best performer with nine raid points.

Sri Lanka were comfortable 48-21 winners over Tanzania, led by raiders Milinda Chathuranga and Viduranga, who scored 11 and 10 points, respectively. Chathuranga’s 11 raid points came from 17 raids. Sri Lanka outscored Tanzania 25-9 in raid points, inflicted six All-Outs and got five tackle points from Santhushta. Tanzania’s tackling kept them in touch, with Hafidhi Ali, captain Masudi Omary and Ibrahim Mashaka each taking four tackle points, while Juma Sultania scored seven raid points. However, 17 unsuccessful raids proved costly.

Scotland then beat Australia 59-30, with Brar the star of the show. He scored 25 points, including 23 raid points from 23 raids without a single unsuccessful raid. Captain Ryan McGallagly added 12 points, and Remy Friel contributed five. Scotland dominated both departments, with 40 raid points to Australia’s 25 and eight tackle points to one, and won the All-Out battle 8-2. For Australia, Jasmeet Grewal was the most productive raider with eight points from just three raids, while Divjot Singh and Kuldeep Singh took four each.