New Delhi:
India women team continued its dominance in the Kho Kho World Cup and Bangladesh was at the receiving end of the sheer brilliance from the home side. Strategic khos, agile running by attackers, the dauting dives put in to plunder points has been India’s successful mantra. It was coupled with Bangladesh attackers showing sluggishness and oblivious marking of the opponent defenders. Their own defenders looked fragile, ending up colliding more often at one end of the pole.
The Indians showed terrific display in their sky-dives to accelerate their points’ tally. Coach Sumit Bhatia after the match said that the strategy was to intensify the attack to exert pressure on the opposition right from the word go. A similar strategy will be adopted in the semifinal to ensure the game is won in the first two turns.
Nirmala Bhati, Monika Shah and Nazia Bibi were terrific on the attack with the blazing touches from Priyanka Ingle and Nasreen Shaikh bolstering India’s attack. The Women in Blue picked up 50 points in the first turn before adding six more in the second thanks to the frolicsome dream runs by Priyanka and Ashwani Shinde. Bangladesh could only tag four Indian defenders as India led by 56-8 at the first half.
The game saw no twists as the Indian team registered another thumping 109-16 win to qualify for the semifinals.
India men touch first three-figure score to book berth in semis
Unlike the Indian women team making it a norm to aggregate 100-plus scores on a regular basis, their male counterparts had to wait for the knockout stage to register their first three-digit total on the board. The Pratik Waikar-led team outsmarted Sri Lanka in the fourth quarterfinal by 100-40.
India led 58-18 in the first half to move with a heavy advantage. The attackers claimed 21 tags in the third turn to complete their first 100-point mark in the tournament. Sri Lanka showed some spirit before bowing out of the tournament by bagging consolation touch points to deny the hosts any dream run in the last turn.
India’s women’s and men’s Kho Kho teams secured semifinal berths at the World Cup. The women’s team decisively defeated Bangladesh (109-16), showcasing superior attack and defense. Nirmala Bhati, Monika Shah, and Nazia Bibi led the offensive charge. The men’s team achieved their first century score, beating Sri Lanka (100-40) in the quarterfinals, demonstrating a strong performance, especially in the third turn. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
