The final leg of the Asian Games saw a gold medal match the world will not forget. Two archrivals—India and Iran—sparred in a closely fought men’s Kabaddi final, where a disagreement over a point saw the ensuing referral stretch for over an hour, eventually forcing a temporary suspension of the match. The impasse saw the Indian coaching contingent and players, including captain Pawan Sehrawat, get into a war of words with the judging panel. The Asian and International Kabaddi Federation officials also got involved. In the end, the ruling went India’s way, allowing the men in blue to reclaim their place on top of the podium with a 33-29 win. The Iranians, wearing silver medals like albatrosses around their necks, stood silently a few centimetres below them.
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All the arguing gave Indian head coach Edachery Bhaskaran a fever, something he struggled to recover from days after that ill-tempered final. “I’ve been popping Dolos to stay on my feet,” the veteran Kabaddi coach told Sportstar from Hangzhou. One could detect fatigue and disappointment in his voice, but there was no trace of regret.
Sorry, not sorry
Here’s how things played out at the Xiaoshan Guali Sports Centre.
With scores tied at 28-28 and a little under a minute and a half left on the clock, Pawan went in for a do-or-die raid, where the raider must pick a point via touch or bonus. Pawan moved down the right flank and managed to draw an error from Iran defender Amirhossein Bastami, who stepped out of the mat.
Left: Amirhossein Bastami steps off the mat. Point to India. He can now not take any further part in any attempt to tackle the raider. Right: Once Bastami steps, Pawan steps into the lobby without a touch and the four raiders left on the mat make their way after him and are all in the lobby without the raider having touched them. That’s four points to India. With Bastami, the correct math would have been five points to India but India was only awarded three.
In attempting to make his way back to the midline with a circle of defenders coming his way, Pawan stepped into the lobby (the narrow space between the inner part of the mat and the region outside the periphery) without getting a touch on any defender. The four defenders pursuing him also stepped into the lobby. As per the existing rules of international kabaddi, when a raider steps into the lobby without a touch, he must forfeit his place on the mat. If defenders step into the lobby without a touch on the raider, they, too, make their way to the sidelines.
“Pawan stepping off gives Iran a point, yes. But the four defenders who followed him, plus Bastami stepping out, gave India a total of five points if you follow the rule,” Bhaskaran explains.
India players argue with referees on a disputed decision in the men’s kabaddi gold medal match between India and Iran during the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou. | Photo Credit: WANG ZHAO/ AFP
“Umpires are there to oversee these things, but the final call is the referee’s. The umpire gave the advantage to India, but the referee, Iraqi official Alghali Basim Raisan Mejbel, quickly came and said 1-1. I teach this sport to kids every single day. I know the rules,” he added, pointing to what caused all the fracas—a lack of clarity about international rules in play.
The referee first deemed a point to Iran for Pawan being out of the mat and went to the jury to consult on how much Iran should be penalised. The first decision given was 1-1 to both teams. Through this decision, Pawan had to be constantly prevented from approaching the jury table.
While amateur Kabaddi deems defenders following a raider must walk if they go into the lobby without a touch, the hugely popular Pro Kabaddi League, the sport’s most successful franchise entity, amended this rule due to a perceived lack of sporting spirit and a way to turn matches on their heads, which could be used deviously, deeming that if a raider stepped out without a touch, only they lost their place and not the defenders pursuing them.
“When the deliberations were happening in court, the secretary general of the Asian Kabaddi Federation, Pakistan’s Rana Muhammad Sarwar, signalled to the referee on the mat that the correct decision was 1-1. The referee oddly kept looking towards the gallery. So, we decided to refer.
The jury still did not seem convinced and Pawan and the contingents constantly debating the decisions only added to the confusion.
“The panel then gave us four points and one point for Iran, which the same referee came forward and declared. The Iranians then protested. When this happened, the Federation official came to the jury and said 1-1 was enough. I then asked him in what capacity he was intervening.
“According to the rules, he’s not supposed to be near the field of play. He then got mad at me and said he would ban me for my tone. I stood my ground. I am an Indian, a retired army man. I will decide what I do for my nation,” Bhaskaran said.
Standards must improve
The seasoned coach did not leave things to those on the jury. He signalled to members of the women’s team sitting on the stands to source the PDF of the International Kabaddi Federation’s rules and take it to the jury.
“On the jury panel, there was a Kenyan official, Laventer Oguta, a seasoned coach and official. She took a very stern stand. She also had a copy of this PDF. She deemed one point for Iran and three points for India. At the time, we thought, even though it’s five if we’re getting three, it’s still fairer than just 1-1. So, we were okay with it, as the advantage would rightly come to us.
Officials began getting involved in proceedings from the spectator balcony
“The real issue started after this. The president of the Iran Federation came and asked to see the replay again and claimed that there was a touch between raider and defender, by which 1-1 would be valid, which did not happen. I told the boys to stay put on the mat,” Bhaskaran added.
“I have been posted at Kargil for six months. Even that didn’t get to me as much as this final did,” he said with a weak chuckle.
The sport of kabaddi and its promoters, especially in the subcontinent, have long nursed ambitions of taking the sport to the Olympics. However, this verbal brawl in the biggest game of arguably the biggest stage in the sport made for a poor advertisement of the discipline and those who play it. Bhaskaran feels this will continue to happen as long as competition and administration in Asian Kabaddi remain inconsistent.
“In the semifinal against Pakistan, decisions almost always went against us. In that game, we had a massive lead, so we let it go and didn’t want to be petty. But here, the fate of the game rested on this, and to have such refereeing at such a stage was disappointing. Such things should not happen on a platform like this,” he said.
Gold medalist Indian team poses for photos during the presentation ceremony after the Women’s Team Gold Medal Kabaddi match against Chinese Taipei at the 19th Asian Games, in Hangzhou, China, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. The Indian contingent claimed an unprecedented 100th medal at the Asian Games with a thrilling 26-25 victory over Chinese Taipei in the final.
Working overtime
The 59-year-old’s responsibilities didn’t begin and end with the men’s team. A few weeks before the squad’s scheduled departure for Hangzhou, Bhaskaran was approached by federation officials to step in as manager of the women’s national side too.
“There was a lack of camaraderie on the team. Confidence was low, and pressure was high. My message to them all—players, coaches, and staff—was simple. If we don’t medal here, we are no one in this ecosystem, so that needs to be the priority,” he said.
The apprehensions were there for all to see in India’s opening game against Chinese Taipei, a closer-than-comfortable and, frankly, lucky 34-34 draw.
“In the first game, we conceded 18–19 bonus points. That only means that the defence is under immense pressure if they can’t string together basic defensive ploys, which was not ideal at all,” Bhaskaran recalled.
The broadcast showed Bhaskaran, coaches V. Tejeswini Bai, and Kavitha Selvaraj each talking to groups of players, potentially creating a ‘too many cooks’ scenario. At the halftime mark, Bhaskaran was on all fours with captain Ritu Negi by his side, explaining ploys on paper.
E Bhaskaran explaining strategies to Ritu Negi and the women’s kabaddi team using a bottle cap during India’s Asian Games campaign opener against Chinese Taipei.
“The competition protocol was very strict. You are not to bring a clipboard, a strategy sheet, or even a pen and paper inside the hall. I was using the bottle ka dhakkan (cap of a water bottle) to show strategies to the players. You think airport checks are strict; you should have been at the competition arena at the Asian Games,” he said.
Golden fault lines
After cruising through the initial stages of the competition, India and Iran left Hangzhou with medals in hand but a bitter aftertaste.
The irony of the situation would not have been lost on Iranian all-rounder Mohammad Esmaeil Nabibakhsh. In 2022, during the eighth season of the Pro Kabaddi League, Nabibakhsh, playing for the Bengal Warriors, went into the lobby without a touch, taking the entire Bengaluru Bulls defence with him. According to international rules, Bengal was awarded seven technical points and a bonus for Nabibakhsh, which turned the game on its head. The Iranian then slunk away with the naughtiest of smiles.
There was no smiling in Hangzhou, though.
“By all means, the rule can change. Get stakeholders together, hear the arguments and make an official amendment to the rulebook which is available well ahead of the next Asian Games,” Bhaskaran declared.
Indian team celebrates after winning the Women’s Team Gold Medal Kabaddi match against Chinese Taipei at the 19th Asian Games, in Hangzhou, China, Saturday, October 7, 2023.
India’s success in Kabaddi at the continental event has pros and cons. It births stars overnight. But it also maintains the status quo for systems that aren’t working. The women’s team’s campaign in Hangzhou was an example of succeeding despite circumstances.
“The issue with Kabaddi, and India in particular, is that we don’t have long-term training or competition plans available. We need qualified coaches at all levels of Indian kabaddi—those who know and can implement scientific coaching methods,” said Bhaskaran, the high-performance coach at the Sports Authority of India Bangalore campus.
“Hockey, for instance, has camps all year round. The players are constantly in the system and are working towards something,” he pointed out.
“We have the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games schedules in Bangkok (rescheduled multiple times since 2021) and the Kabaddi World Cup, both tentatively after the PKL season ends. So, there’s a fair bit of competitive action to look forward to,” Bhaskaran said.
The coach, however, is contemplating focusing his attention on the women’s ecosystem.
“We need to work on the basics here. We need to improve speed, agility, and fitness. In 2014, when I was with the team for two months, the camp was fitness-oriented. We stepped onto the mat only after the fundamentals were sorted,” he explained.
Hopefully, the champions are just getting started.
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