India men reduced Pakistan to smithereens as they crushed Green Shirts 64-14 while Women drubbed Nepal 61-17 to storm into the finals of the Kabaddi tournament of the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China on Friday.

India will take on defending champion Iran in the men’s team final while Women will clash with Chinese Taipei for the title in the women’s section

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This was India seventh win over Pakistan in Kabaddi. With this victory, they made their eighth final in kabaddi at the Asian Games. India missed out on a place in the final at Jakarta 2018 after losing to Iran in the semi-finals. Before that, The Men in Blue had won all seven gold medals since kabaddi made its debut in 1990.

In the semifinals, India did not leave anything to chance against their arch-rivals. The winners suffered a minor blip at the start with the Pakistani defence getting the two tackle points early. A two-point raid from Pakistan’s Mazhar Iqbal reduced India to three. Nevertheless, the Indians regrouped quickly and subjected Pakistan to an all-out.

From 0-4 down, India soon led Pakistan 10-4 in quick time. Eight of those 10 points came through Naveen Kumar’s multi-point raids. Pawan Sehrawat, who was stopped by the Pakistani defence on the first raid, produced a super raid to increase the gap between the two sides. Aslam Inamdar also got into the act soon.

It was one-way traffic for India from thereon. India inflicted two more all-outs and led Pakistan 30-5 at the half-time.

Sachin Tanwar and Akash Shinde replaced Pawan Sehrawat and Naveen Kumar in the second half but that did not affect India’s scoring rate. Pakistan managed to improve their game by a notch early in the second half. Still, India proved too strong and inflicted two more all-outs on the two-time silver medalists to enter the final against Iran.

Earlier in their campaign, India made it to the semi-finals unbeaten with four wins out of four matches in the group stage. Chinese Taipei came second with three wins and a loss against India.

In the women’s section, India toyed with their Himalayan Neighbour Nepal in the semi-finals. The Ritu Negi-led India, who had a 29-10 lead at halftime, showcased their all-round capabilities in the second half to storm into the final.

Indian raiders scored nine bonus points while inflicting five all-outs on hapless Nepal.