India’s men won every kabaddi group game by at least 16 points, and Thailand are next
India’s men beat Chinese Taipei 37-21 and the women beat hosts Japan 50-25 on Thursday, so both kabaddi teams go into Friday’s Asian Games semi-finals unbeaten.
Sep 24, 2026
India’s kabaddi teams finished the Asian Games group stage on Thursday the way they started it. At the Tokai Citizen Gymnasium the men beat Chinese Taipei 37-21, and in the last match of the day the women beat hosts Japan 50-25. That is seven wins from seven across the two draws, and not one of them was close.
The men won their four group games by 25, 32, 23 and 16 points. They scored 197 points in Group A and conceded 101. Friday’s semi-final should be harder. Thailand have already shown, against Pakistan, that they can win a close one.
Chinese Taipei were down by 12 at the break
The pattern of the Taipei game will be familiar to anyone who watched India’s earlier matches. The defence set it up. Aslam Inamdar and Rahul Sethpal worked the right corner together, Sethpal’s ankle holds kept stopping Taipei’s raiders, and an early All-Out put India in control. A second one before half-time made it 23-11.
After the break Devank Dalal and Ayan Lohchab kept the raiding points coming, and India saw the game out without much fuss. Taipei did win a few battles. They picked up more bonus points than India and managed a couple of Super Tackles, and Chung-mao Chang produced an ankle hold of his own after the break. None of it narrowed the gap enough to matter.
Thailand came through the harder group
Group B was always going to be decided behind Iran, who won all four of their games and put 83 points on Thailand. The race for second place came down to Wednesday, when Thailand beat Pakistan 48-45. Pakistan were 32-31 up at half-time and had won their first two matches comfortably, but Thailand outscored them 17-13 after the break.
Pakistan’s 51-30 defeat to Iran on Thursday settled it. Thailand finished with three wins, Pakistan with two, and it is Thailand who play India for a place in the final. Iran meet the Group A runners-up in the other semi-final.
The women face Nepal
The women’s game against Japan was over early. India inflicted two All-Outs in the first half and led 32-13 at the interval, and they finished the group with wins over Bangladesh (42-21), Iran (37-23) and Japan.
Nepal are their semi-final opponents. They were second in Group B behind Chinese Taipei, and got there by beating Thailand 46-43 after trailing 24-15 at half-time, then Sri Lanka on Thursday. Iran, the team that beat India’s women in the 2018 final in Jakarta, play Chinese Taipei in the other semi.
Both beaten semi-finalists receive bronze, so both Indian teams are already assured of a medal. The finals are on Saturday: the women’s at 9.30am IST and the men’s at 2.30pm IST. India’s men have won eight of the nine Asian Games kabaddi golds since 1990, and the women three of four. Two more wins each would add one to both totals.