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Kabaddi World Cup: India kickstarts men's title defence with win over Italy

ANI March 18, 2025 124 views

India's men's Kabaddi team has kicked off their World Cup title defence with a commanding victory against Italy. The match in Wolverhampton saw India triumph 64-22, securing top spot in Group B. This tournament marks the second global Kabaddi championship, following their historic win in Malaysia in 2019. Both men's and women's Indian teams are looking to retain their titles in this exciting international competition.

"Defending champions looking unstoppable in world tournament" - Kabaddi Expert
Birmingham, March 18: Defending champions Indian men's team beat Italy to kickstart their Kabaddi World Cup 2025 campaign in Wolverhampton on Monday.

Key Points

1

India dominates Group B with comprehensive win

2

Tournament spans four UK cities

3

10 men's teams compete in global championship

4

Top four teams advance to quarterfinals

In a largely one-sided match, India beat Italy 64-22 in their Group B match.

With this victory, India is at the top of the group with two points. In the other Group B clash, Scotland defeated Wales by 63-43 and is at second spot in the group.

India's next match will be against Scotland at Wolverhampton on Tuesday.

Both men's and women's Indian teams are defending their titles at the Kabaddi World Cup 2025, which started on Monday in England.

As per Olympics.com, the tournament will be held across four cities, Birmingham, Coventry, Walsall and Wolverhampton - in the West Midlands region of the United Kingdom.

The men's Kabaddi World Cup will feature 10 teams split into a group of two, with Hungary, England, Poland, Germany, and the USA forming Group A and India in Group B alongside Italy, Scotland, Wales and Hong Kong.

After their single-headed round-robin games, the top four teams from each group will make it to the quarterfinals starting from March 21 onwards.

Coming to the women's team, it will be a six-team affair, with two groups of three, D and E. Group D will feature India with Wales and Poland, while Group E is made by Hong Kong, Hungary and England. Indian women's team will kickstart their campaign against Wales on Tuesday.

The top two teams from each group will make it to the semifinals starting from March 21 onwards.

The losing semifinalists in men's and women's competitions will battle for the third-place in a playoffs clash on March 23 and March 22 respectively.

This is the second Kabaddi World Cup hosted by the World Kabaddi. In the inaugural tournament, held in Malaysia in 2019, India defeated Iraq and Chinese Taipei to capture the men's and women's titles.

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