New Delhi: The shocking ouster of the men’s team from the gold medal contention in the Asian Games kabaddi will have ‘far-reaching implications’, according to two-time Asiad gold medallist and former captain Anup Kumar. India lost in semifinals Thursday against Iran.
“I am too stunned to react at the moment. It will take some time to accept that this has exactly happened. But let me tell you there will be far-reaching impact of this result and repercussions will be huge,” Anup, who led India to a gold medal at the Incheon Games said, Friday.
He was the captain during the last edition when Iran nearly pulled off an upset win before India managed to hold onto their gold. Anup was the first to point out that Iran had improved tremendously which the Indians had not been able to apprehend.
A lot of people are blaming the Pro Kabaddi League in which Iranian players are allowed to play. But then as they have improved, we should have also raised our level by a few notches
Anup Kumar
“I don’t think that the boys were insincere as some quarters have pointed out,” Anup said. “But possibly we didn’t factor in that Iran have improved in leaps and bounds over the years. It is a historic defeat and no one would want to be part of such history,” added Anup, who was also a part of the champion team at the 2010 Guangzhou Games.
Anup asserted that skipper Ajay Thakur’s injury had been the turning point in the game. Ajay got a cut in the forehead and played with stitches.
“Ajay is a leader. When your leader is out for the maximum time, you tend to lose your way and that’s what happened. Our boys started well in the first five minutes but I was surprised that the speed and intensity lacked thereafter. Ajay’s absence did make a difference,” pointed out Anup. Also our boys committed harakiri on two Super tackles. That cost us badly,” he said.