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At the second Junior World Kabaddi Championship, Team India performed outstandingly and defeated Iran, the first-place finisher in the competition’s inaugural edition. The Pro Kabaddi League players on the Indian team helped them defeat their opponents 41-32 in a lopsided game.

Iran’s Urmia hosted the competition, which began on February 28. On March 4, India took home the victory. Team India made its tournament debut in this one, winning every game they played and even defeating Pakistan in the semifinals. The Indian team defeated Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals. At the end of the first half, Iran led 19-18, according to some reports. But after that, the young Indian team changed directions and went on the attack.

Here is the Indian squad who played in the tournament: Ankush Rathee (captain, left corner), Nardender Kandola (right raider), Jai Bhagwan (right raider), Manjeet Sharma (right raider), Sagar Kumar (allrounder), Ashish Malik (left corner), Sachin (right cover), Rohit Kumar (left cover), Manu Deshwal (left raider), Abhijit Malik (right raider), Vijyant Jaglan (right cover), and Yogesh Dahiya (right corner)

Bokaro, Odisha’s star player Sagar Kumar spoke at length about his experience

There’s a wave of hope and optimism around the younger Kabaddi players of Bokaro after Sagar Kumar’s brilliant display at the second Junior World Kabaddi Championship. He said his next target is to get into the senior Indian Kabaddi team. It was because of his hard work and resulting performance that he was able to win the gold medal in Iran. 

Sagar revealed that he started his journey in the sport in 2015, playing for Sector 8 Club ground of Bokaro. His coach Tejnarayan Prasad helped him excel at the district and state levels. He won the gold medal in Junior National Kabaddi in 2018 and went on to win another gold at the National level in an event held in Rohtak in 2020. Sagar, an allrounder, provides a lot of stability to any team he joins. Recently, he was picked for the Pro Kabaddi League side Patna Pirates. He gave the credit for his success to his childhood coach and thanked his father, Bipin Kumar Singh, for inspiring him to take up the sport.