India Clinches First Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship Title with Dominant Victory
India Triumphs in Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship
Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], October 31: India has made history by becoming the inaugural men's champions of the Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship 2026, securing a decisive 54-20 victory over Sri Lanka. This win also marked a double celebration for India, as the women's team had earlier triumphed over Uganda with a score of 35-15 in the women's final.
Aditya Shinde was the standout performer for India, achieving a Super 10 with 10 raid points from 14 attempts, which included four bonus points. Bharat Hooda contributed significantly as well, scoring eight raid points, all in the second half, without being tackled in any of his seven raids.
Pankaj Mohite added six points to the tally, while vice-captain Naveen Kumar contributed five. The defensive efforts were led by Yogesh Dahiya, who recorded a High 5 with five successful tackles from five attempts, all during the first half. Other contributors included Shubham Shinde, captain Surjeet Singh, Pravesh Malik, and Deepak Sankar, each adding two tackle points. India dominated the match with 30 raid points and 14 tackle points, executing four All-Outs without conceding any.
Sri Lanka's top scorer was Maduwantha, who managed six tackle points, including two Super Tackles. Ansaf and Viduranga each added three points, but the Sri Lankan raiders faced significant challenges. Despite leading the scoring in their semi-final match against Kenya, they could only muster five raid points from 31 attempts in the final. Sri Lanka also struggled in their do-or-die raids, succeeding in just two out of nine attempts, finishing with 11 raid points and nine tackle points.
India established a 15-8 lead with 10 minutes left in the first half, having already executed an All-Out. They then outscored Sri Lanka 15-2, leading to a halftime score of 30-10, with a second All-Out occurring in the last five minutes of the half.
In the first half, Sri Lanka managed only two successful raids out of 21, while India's defenders achieved nine successful tackles from 10 attempts. After the break, India inflicted two more All-Outs, the last occurring in the final five minutes, winning the second half 24-10. Overall, India completed 24 successful raids from 40 attempts, compared to Sri Lanka's seven from 41.
After the match, Aditya Shinde expressed his gratitude for the support from the Ahmedabad crowd, stating, “With more and more tournaments being held, it’s great for the people of Ahmedabad too, and we received so much support from them. We hope everyone comes out to support us the same way in the competitions ahead. There will be a celebration, a really big one, and it’s already going on here!”
India's championship victory capped off a flawless campaign, winning all eight matches. They topped Group A with six victories, defeating teams like England (46-26), Uganda (44-30), Malaysia (37-23), Nigeria (50-23), Tanzania (48-20), and Sri Lanka (45-24). In the semi-finals, they overwhelmed Bangladesh with a score of 56-27 before their final win against Sri Lanka. Throughout the tournament, India scored a total of 380 points while conceding only 193, with no opponent managing to score more than 30 points against them.