Indian women win carrom team championship at World Cup

The Indian women outplayed Sri Lanka 3-0 in the team championship final of the fifth Carrom World Cup in Chuncheon, Korea.

(From left) Rashmi Kumari, Aysha Mohammed, Kajal Kumari and S. Apoorva, who won the team championships at World Cup.

The Indian women outplayed Sri Lanka 3-0 in the team championship final of the fifth Carrom World Cup in Chuncheon, Korea, on Sunday.

However, the Indian men continued to find the reigning World Champions Sri Lanka a tough nut to crack and got beaten 2-1 in the final.

Rashmi Kumari, Kajal Kumari and S. Apoorva helped India beat Sri Lanka without dropping a game for the women’s title.

Rayana Fathimath of Maldives had put up a better fight against Kajal Kumari, the Swiss League champion the previous day, in the semifinals, but could not stop India recording a 3-0 victory in the semifinals.

In the men’s final, Zaheer Pasha gave a good start for India by beating Shaheed HIlmy, but Nishantha Fernando and Chamil Cooray asserted Sri Lanka’s supremacy in the other two matches against Sagayabharathi and Prashant More respectively.

The individual events will be held on Monday.

The results:

Men (final): Sri Lanka bt India 2-1 (Shaheed Hilmy lost to Zaheer Pasha 22-25, 11-25; Nishantha Fernando bt K Sagayabharathi 25-22, 25-7; Chamil Cooray bt Prashant More 3-25, 25-15, 25-21).

Semifinals: India bt Malaysia 3-0 (Prashant More bt Munthasir 25-3, 25-9; Zaheer Pasha bt Ismail Azmeen 25-6,2 5-11; K Sagayabharathi bt Ali Azim 25-18, 25-0).

Women (final): India bt Sri Lanka 3-0 (Rashmi Kumari bt Roshita Joseph 19-15, 25-23; Kajal Kumari bt Chalani Lakmali Liyanage 25-11, 25-12; S Apoorva bt Yasika Rahubadda 25-12, 25-23)

Semifinals: India bt Maldives 3-0 (Rashmi Kumari bt Aminath Vishama 25-5, 25-4; Kajal Kumari bt Rayana Fathimath 1-25, 25-14, 25-0; S. Apoorva bt Aminath Vidhaadh 25-1, 25-1).