Top notch raider Pawan Sehrawat, who also defends in the right corner, said that a less competitive environment made things easy for the Indian kabaddi team to win the men’s South Asian Games gold medal for the tenth time.
A young Indian team, led by Deepak Niwas Hooda, beat Sri Lanka 49-16, Pakistan 49-22, Bangladesh 44-29, Nepal 62-26 before thrashing Sri Lanka 51-18 in the final.
Talking to Sportstar Sehrawat said: “There was not much completion and the other teams were a far cry from our strength. We had good raiders and defenders. The players performed their roles. We did not adopt new tactics. Played to a plan.”
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The leading player in the ProKabbadi League (PKL) season 6 and 7, Sehrawat expressed joy at playing for India for the first time. “There was some anxiousness before the competition began, I was okay once we started winning matches. For the first time I played for the country; it was a good experience. It was a proud moment for me. We won by big margins. That made it memorable.”
Sehrawat feels that the next challenge will come during the World Cup to be played next year and the Indian team will aim to win the gold medal.
He also revealed that Sri Lanka has improved its defensive skills. “Sri Lanka has improved it’s tackling; they were successful once against me, Pardeep Narwal and Navin Kumar. They beat Pakistan too.”
Sehrawat acknowledged the experience gained in the ProKabaddi has helped him a lot. “That’s a big platform."
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