{"id":2169,"date":"2026-09-23T08:37:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T08:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/09\/23\/india-aims-for-gold-kabaddi-group-stage-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T08:37:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T08:37:10","slug":"india-aims-for-gold-kabaddi-group-stage-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/09\/23\/india-aims-for-gold-kabaddi-group-stage-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"India eyes gold as Kabaddi group stage intensifies at Asian Games 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Quick Adsense WordPress Plugin: http:\/\/quickadsense.com\/ -->\n<div class=\"9fece8afa224fd09e54b043d0febfb58\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- NR ATF -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8898941184964366\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"4839033563\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>Kabaddi at the 20th Asian Games continued at the Tokai Citizens Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, with the third day of group matches delivering decisive results. The tournament, running from 21 to 26 September, features ten men\u2019s teams and eight women\u2019s teams split into two groups each. All matches are scheduled in Indian Standard Time, with a morning session from 06:00 to 10:30 and an evening session from 12:30 to 16:50.<\/p>\n<h2>Schedule and group structure<\/h2>\n<p>The men\u2019s competition is organized into Group A (India, Japan, Bangladesh, Republic of Korea, Chinese Taipei) and Group B (Iran, Pakistan, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia). The women\u2019s draw places India, Iran, Japan and Bangladesh in Group A, while Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Nepal contest Group B. Each side faces every other team in its group once; the top two from each group advance to the semi\u2011finals on 25 September. No bronze\u2011medal match is scheduled \u2013 both losing semi\u2011finalists receive bronze \u2013 and the gold\u2011medal contests are set for 26 September, with the women\u2019s final at 09:30\u202fIST and the men\u2019s final at 14:30\u202fIST.<\/p>\n<p>Day three saw a packed itinerary. Chinese Taipei\u2019s men were the only side playing twice, opening against the Republic of Korea at 06:00\u202fIST and later meeting Japan at 15:00\u202fIST. India\u2019s men, unbeaten after two victories, faced Bangladesh in the afternoon, while the women\u2019s marquee clash between India and Iran took place at 08:30\u202fIST. The remaining fixtures completed the day\u2019s schedule across both sessions.<\/p>\n<h2>Key matchups and results<\/h2>\n<p>India entered the day as the most decorated nation in Asian Games kabaddi history, holding eleven gold medals from thirteen editions. The men, captained by Sunil Kumar with vice\u2011captain Pawan Sehrawat, had already defeated Japan 49\u201124 and the Republic of Korea 63\u201131, the latter match featuring 17 bonus points and three All\u2011Outs. Their women\u2019s side, led by Pushpa Rana and coached by Neeta Dadwe, opened with a 42\u201121 win over Bangladesh and rested on the morning of the third day.<\/p>\n<p>The women\u2019s headline encounter pitted India against Iran at 08:30\u202fIST. Iran, the only other nation to have captured Asian Games kabaddi gold \u2013 achieving back\u2011to\u2011back titles in 2018 \u2013 entered the match after a 63\u201120 triumph over Japan and a 54\u201119 victory against Bangladesh. The contest ended with India prevailing 37\u201123, restoring the Indian women\u2019s unbeaten run and handing Iran a second loss of the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>In the men\u2019s arena, India faced Bangladesh at 13:45\u202fIST. Bangladesh, who had surprised the draw by beating the Republic of Korea 39\u201135 and edging Chinese Taipei 48\u201147 before a narrow loss to Japan, were looking for a statement win. India\u2019s seasoned raiders \u2013 Ashu Malik, Arjun Deshwal and Devank Dalal \u2013 helped the side post a 48\u201125 victory, extending India\u2019s perfect record to two wins from two and cementing a strong points differential.<\/p>\n<p>Other notable results from Day 3 included a 43\u201137 win for Chinese Taipei over the Republic of Korea, a match that effectively eliminated the Koreans from semi\u2011final contention, given their earlier defeats. Iran continued its dominant march by overwhelming Malaysia 67\u201133, boosting its net points ahead of the final group matches.<\/p>\n<p>Several fixtures concluded without publicly disclosed scores: Thailand versus Pakistan, Japan versus Bangladesh, Chinese Taipei versus Japan, and Chinese Taipei versus Nepal. These matches were expected to influence net\u2011point calculations, especially in Group B where Pakistan and Thailand each started with a win, and in the women\u2019s Group B where Chinese Taipei and Nepal vied for the second semi\u2011final berth.<\/p>\n<h2>Implications for the semi\u2011final race<\/h2>\n<p>With two days of results in hand, the group standings are beginning to crystallize. In Group A, India sits atop the men\u2019s table with a flawless 2\u20110 record and a substantial points margin derived from 49\u201124 and 63\u201131 victories. Iran\u2019s men have played only one match, a 67\u201133 win over Malaysia, leaving them in a strong position to challenge for the top two spots.<\/p>\n<p>Bangladesh\u2019s men, despite a respectable 2\u20111 record, will need a win against India to keep alive any chance of reaching the semi\u2011finals, a result that would mark their best Asian Games performance in over two decades. The Republic of Korea, after losses to Bangladesh and India, now faces a must\u2011win situation against Chinese Taipei, but the 43\u201137 defeat suggests their tournament may be nearing an end.<\/p>\n<p>On the women\u2019s side, India and Iran each command a perfect 1\u20110 record in Group A, with large winning margins that give both teams a comfortable cushion in net\u2011point calculations. Their clash on Day 3 was decisive; India\u2019s 37\u201123 win places them firmly in the lead, while Iran must rely on a victory in its remaining group match to stay in contention.<\/p>\n<p>Group B remains more fluid. Pakistan and Thailand have both secured opening wins, while Iran\u2019s dominant performance against Malaysia and Nepal\u2019s loss to Thailand keep the competition tight. Net points are already proving crucial, as the tournament\u2019s format ranks teams first by wins and then by the cumulative score difference across all group matches. Consequently, teams are not only seeking victories but also aiming to maximize margins.<\/p>\n<p>As the group stage draws to a close on 24 September, the semi\u2011final line\u2011up will likely feature India\u2019s men and women, Iran\u2019s men, and a mix of Pakistan, Thailand or possibly another surprise from Group B, depending on the outcomes of the remaining fixtures. The upcoming matches will determine whether the historical dominance of India continues or if a new challenger can break through to the gold\u2011medal match scheduled for 26 September.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Day three of the Asian Games kabaddi competition saw India men and women maintain unbeaten records while Iran challenged for group supremacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[299],"tags":[1661,1549,216,2295,469],"class_list":["post-2169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-asian-games","tag-bangladesh","tag-india","tag-iran","tag-kabaddi","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}