Chennai - Masters of the Cities

Hosts Kuala Lumpur were forced to play the bridesmaid role for the second consecutive time at the KL International Inter City Kabaddi Championships.

Kuala Lumpur, who were beaten in the final by Patialla at the last championships, succumbed 14-21 to a superior Chennai side in the final at the Stadium Titiwangsa.

Kuala Lumpur had qualified for the final after a hard earned victory over Patialla while Chennai romped past Oslo for their place in the final.

The final between Chennai and Kuala Lumpur turned out to be a classic final although for the first half it went all Chennai’s way.

The technically superior Chennai side controlled the pace of the game and led 14-2 against the young Kuala Lumpur side.

Chennai chose to play a more passive role in the second half and the strategy almost saw a resurgent Kuala Lumpur making an unlikely comeback.

Kuala Lumpur came within four points of the Chennai side only to see their comeback snuffed out by the Indian side.

Chennai made a clean sweep of the individual awards with Karnan taking home the Best Defender and Best Player Awards. Another Chennai player, Sundara Moorthy won the
Best Raider Award deservingly for his quick raiding skills.

Patialla won third place by default over Oslo.

In the women’s competition, Jagatpura strolled to a 56-26 win over Oslo in the final.

Jagatpura’s Anurani and Jasbeer Kaur won the Best Defender and Best Player Awards while Oslo’s Anurani was adjudged as the Best Raider.

Kuala Lumpur won third spot while Putrajaya were fourth.

Deputy Foreign Minister YB Senator A.Kohillan Pillay gave away the prizes to the winners.

Click here to view pictures from the final day of competition.