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Ashan, the man behind men’s kabaddi team’s first Asiad loss

JAKARTA:He is named as the physiotherapist on the South Korea team list.

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Vinayak Padmadeo

Tribune News Service

Jakarta, August 20

He is named as the physiotherapist on the South Korea team list. But those who know Ashan Kumar Sangwan would happily confirm he is not a qualified physio. The nomenclature doesn’t matter, what is important is the fact that Sangwan, who was part of the Indian team that won the inaugural gold medal at the Beijing Games in 1990, was central to the greatest kabaddi shock at these Games.

The gritty South Koreans first held the Indians at bay and then edged them 24-23 to hand a first-ever defeat to the seven-time gold winners. And for engineering this, Sangwan is the most hated Indian in the kabaddi world. “Yes I did get a couple of calls from India after the loss,” he told The Tribune on Monday. “You have to understand I have been employed by them to improve their standards. Professionalism demands that I give my all. But if you ask me, this is a big shock and we have shown what we are capable of.”

Simple drills

The seeds for this upset were sown in the four-month camp that was held in Busan, where the coaching staff concentrated on doing simple things better. “Our job was to make them work on simple things like how to defend tight with less people on the mat or how to convert a 2-point raid into a 4-pointer,” Sangwan explained. “We practised hard for four-man defence and it helped today as we stayed with the Indian team throughout the match.”

The Korean team, which was first assembled for the 2014 Incheon Games, had more points on their raids and more bonus points on the scorecard — the combination that in effect brought the downfall of the Indian team. The only place where the Indians were better was the fact that they were able to score two points through super tackle where Koreans had none. Incidentally, the super tackle made it a one-point loss for the Indians.

The Korean defence withstood a start-studded raiding party of the Indian team led by Monu Goyat, who was signed by Haryana Steelers for Rs 1.51 crore in Professional Kabaddi League’s Season 6 auctions, and Pardeep Narwal, Rahul Chaudhari, Rohit Kumar and skipper Ajay Thakur. 

“This was a shock win no doubt, but it was not easy. Both the teams were in the match and were mindful not to commit silly errors. It was very tough out there,” says Sangwan, who retired from the Services a decade ago.

Earlier, the men’s team had defeated Sri Lanka 44-28 after starting the campaign with a 50-21 win over Bangladesh.

Conflicted

Arjuna Awardee Sangwan readily admits that he was sad for India’s loss but couldn’t be happier for his employers. “As a fan of this game, as a former gold medal winner, I am sad. Kabaddi has given me everything in this life so I feel bad for being responsible for our country’s loss. But I am also happy for the Korean team as this means I was honest to my job,” he said.

This wasn’t the first time that the Indians have come unstuck against the Koreans. India lost to them in their opening match of the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup 31-34 in Jaipur. But back then, India recovered to win the World Cup. Coaches Rambir Singh Khokar and Ram Meher Singh would be hoping that the same happens here in Jakarta as well.

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