India outclass Pakistan in Kabaddi Masters opener
Dubai, June 22 : India stood up to their reputation, thrashing Pakistan 36-20 in the opening match of the Kabaddi Masters Dubai at the Al Wasl sports club here on Friday.
The Ajay Thakur-led side started off sensibly, gauging the weakness and strength of Pakistan in the initial minutes before thrashing their arch-rivals to notch up a tsunami of points.
Reeling under pressure, Pakistan gifted away some easy points as they lacked any co-ordination and confidence on the mat.
India will now take on Kenya in their second match on Saturday
Both teams started on a positive note but after few minutes, Pakistan sent back India's star raider Rahul Chaudhary to take an one point lead. But Indian skipper Thakur equalised handsomely through a gentle touch on the opponent's side.
At one point, India got a chance to reduce the opponents to three players but Sandeep failed to dog so.
With both teams registering points one after the other, Chaudhary led India's defence to take a four-point lead with just seven minutes to go in the first half.
He stood up to his reputation and pressurised the Pakistanis to that extent that one player stepped out from the playing area to hand India one point.
A comfortably placed India then had the excellent opportunity to get Pakistan all out and they did that in style. Rohit, who was the substitute for Surjeet, came for the raid and inflicted an all-out to make it 14-8 with only four minutes remaining.
In the 18th minute, Rohit got a brilliant opportunity to make his opponents reel on the floor and he made it with an excellent raid to force Pakistan to play with one player.
By the time, the first half ended India deservingly made a lop-sided affair with a whopping 22-8 lead.
The change of sides saw Thakur making it worse for Pakistan as he inflicted another all out in the opening second of the second half.
It was clearly visible that the Pakistan players were feeling the heat as they gifted some easy points, helping India swell their lead to 27-8.
But Pakistan did not give up easily, threatening India by getting four players out but Chaudhury splashed water on their plans and took some crucial points to maintain the lead.
Towards the end, Pakistan managed to sneak in a few points but that was not enough to overhaul India's lead as the Thakur-led side kicked off their campaign in style.
Despite having a good side, Pakistan lost the issue, Asked about on which front Pakistan lacked, India coach Srinivas Reddy said: "Our raiders are better than Pakistan and that is the only difference between both the teams."
He also said that this Indian side has a strong bench strength which also helped in Friday's match and will help in the upcoming matches.
In other match, Iran produced a clinical all-round performance to beat South Korea 35-20. Iran's raiders and defenders combined well whereas South Korea's over reliance on their star man Jang Kun Lee was exposed.
Lee scored 10 raid points whereas his teammates could muster just three raid points combined.
For Iran, Mohammed Malak scored six tackle points and marshaled the defence superbly. Mohammed Nabibbaksh and Mohammad Magshoudlou were the key raiders for Iran.
Earlier, India's Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore unveiled the trophy in presence of Bollywood actor and Jaipur Pink Panthers Kabaddi club owner Abhishek Bachchan.
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ISRO launches Mission MITRA for safety of human spaceflight mission crew
Bengaluru (PTI): ISRO on Friday said it has undertaken mission MITRA in Leh, Union Territory of Ladakh, from April 2 to 9, a first-of-its-kind team behavioural study for the benefit of human spaceflight missions such as Gaganyaan.
The mission, inaugurated by the ISRO chairman V Narayanan, was mainly for the crew safety and performance.
"Mission MITRA is a first-of-its-kind team behavioural study designed by ISRO and IAF-Institute of Aerospace Medicine to examine the physiological, psychological, and operational dynamics of Crew and ground teams functioning in a high-altitude environment," ISRO said in a statement.
This study is targeted to generate vital understanding on the team interoperability between crew (Gaganyatris) and ground control teams and the effectiveness of decision making under environmental & operational stress, the space agency said.
Noting that the crew safety and performance are the most critical elements of all Human Spaceflight Missions, ISRO said the ability of the crew to communicate effectively, adapt to stress, maintain psychological resilience and support one another determines the success and safety of any mission.
Analogue missions conducted under controlled yet realistic conditions are utilised to understand how crews perform under challenging conditions, it added.
The space agency said the high altitude of approximately 3,500 meters at Leh having the environmental conditions of hypoxia, low temperature, and isolation, is a natural analogue for spaceflight operations.
