India’s Men’s Kabaddi team clinched the victory from the mouth of the opponent in the final match, Iran. India won Gold in Men’s Kabaddi at the Asian Games 2023. You may read only this highlight in the newspapers but the insight of the final game was filled with heated arguments, multiple review controversies, and sit-in protests. Yes, you heard it right, the Iranian Kabaddi team strictly condemned the act of reversing the decision of the referee that cost them the gold medal against India in the final. If you are still unversed in this matter, kindly read stick with this page, and go through it till the end. Swipe down.
The scores had levelled at 28-28 when only the last 90 minutes were left and Indian captain Pawan Sehrawat went on the do-or-die raid against five. But Pawan Sehrawat’s raid led to a major controversy that caused the game to remain disturbed for an hour. When Pawan Sehrawat went into the lobby without a touch, with all the players of Iran coming to dash him Pawan was already out of bounds at that time Iranian players went out of the lobby.
This led to a huge drama in the final game of the event at the Asian Games 2023. After the raider is in the lobby the defenders are also given marching orders, if they have a touch on the raider, if they step into the lobby, according to the old rule. This is what happened in the last raid. But a new rule has been included, which states that as soon as the raider goes into the lobby, the raid is over even if the defending team’s players go out of the lobby, they won’t be penalized. This rule was also followed in the Pro Kabaddi League.
To review the raid, both off-court and on-court referees used the review system. After multiple reviews, the final decision was taken in favor of India which awarded the team with four points and ultimately a gold medal at the Asian Games 2023 as well. Experts have called it the referees’ fault. Menezeshenry wrote on Twitter, “High drama in Men’s Kabaddi it’s 28-28 India vs Iran it’s a Review over the Review over Review over Review our commentators have more knowledge than the referees in court” Though no concluding evidence was found, Iranian team highly criticized the decision.
