Aichi-Nagoya [Japan], September 22 : Defending champions India continued their dominant run in the Asian Games 2026 men’s kabaddi competition with a comprehensive 63-31 victory over South Korea in their second Group A fixture on Tuesday.
India produced a strong first-half display and went into the break with a 34-14 lead. The defending champions inflicted two all-outs on South Korea in the opening half, with the second coming just before half-time.
India maintained control after the break and completed a 32-point victory over South Korea to make it two wins from two matches in Group A.
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Earlier, India opened their campaign with a 49-24 win over Japan on Monday.
Japan offered greater resistance in the second half and managed to add more than 20 points, but India remained firmly in control to seal a comfortable victory in their opening match.
India will next take on Bangladesh in their Group A fixture at the Tokai Citizen Gymnasium.
Meanwhile, India’s Elavenil Valarivan and Parth Mane qualified for the gold medal match after finishing second in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team qualification.
China topped the qualification with 638.9, setting a new world record and improving on the previous mark of 636.9.
India made a strong start to the qualification and reached 211.9 after 20 shots. The Indian pair maintained their position through the remainder of the qualification to finish with 634.9, also surpassing the existing Asian record.
China completed its qualification ahead of the other teams and posted the record score of 638.9. Sheng Lihao, who had also competed in the men's 10m air rifle qualification on Monday, helped China finish its set of shots early.
South Korea and Iran were still completing their shots when China and India finished their qualification, with the final standings to be confirmed after all teams completed their rounds.
The format for the final has been changed this year. Instead of separate gold and bronze medal matches, all four qualified teams will compete simultaneously in the final, following a format similar to the individual events, with periodic eliminations.
In soft tennis, Jay Meena defeated Pakistan’s Hussain Arain 4-0 in men’s singles Group D, while Aadhya Tiwari lost 1-4 to Thailand’s Alisha Ziegler in the women’s singles Group D. Wushu’s Langlentombi Devi Hanjabam finished ninth in the women’s Nanquan final.