Anti Climax

The men’s final of the Rakan Muda Grasscourt Challenge turned out to be an anti climax after the tournament showed so much promise early on.

Sri Devi Dragons eased to an easy 47-17 win over surprise package Selayang to lift their third title of the year. The Dragons had also won the City Day Kabaddi Championships and the Rakan Muda Kabaddi Challenge earlier this year.

The quarter-finals and the semi-final stages gave the spectators more to cheer about than the one-sided final.

The quarter-finals saw two keenly contested match that had everyone at the edge of their seats.

The Indian expatriate team of Pasum Ponn sprang the first surprise when they edged out Selangor’s top club Sivasangkari 19-17. In another close match, Selayang disposed of Negri Sembilan’s top club Bukit Pelandok by the razor thin score of 22-21.

The semi-finals was also an heated affair after Pasum Ponn forfeited their match while trailing 9-19. The team were unhappy with the decisions of the umpires and chose to concede a walkover.

In the other semi-finals, Selayang stunned second seeded Tamilan Kabaddi 32-9.

In the final Selayang set the early pace but their challenge fizzled out much to the disappointment of everyone as the Dragons began to use their experience to stifle their opponents’ challenge.

The Dragons’ K. Siva was adjudged at the Best Raider while Selayang’s Karunakaran and Thinesh Kumar were picked as the Best Defence and Best Player respectively.

The women’s competition, saw an out of sorts top seeds Sri Devi Princess being bundeled out in the first round by Segar Brights.

Segar Brights went on to thrash Damansara 57-17 for the title. Earlier in the semi-finals, Segar beat Seremban 37-19 while Damansara beat Sri Devi Angels 26-15.

Seremban took third place with a 21-18 win over the Angels.

Segar’s Kalaivani was picked as the Best Raider while her teammate Yobaneswari took both the Best Defence and Best Player Awards.

To view pictures from the tournament please log on to out Picasa website by clicking on to our link at the right of this page