Indian players celebrate their victory over Iran in gold-medal match in Incheon on Friday. (Source: PTI) Indian players celebrate their victory over Iran in gold-medal match in Incheon on Friday. (Source: PTI)

As the two teams stood in the corridor leading to the playing arena before the kabaddi final, the Iranians broke into an All-Blacks haka of sorts. With in-the-face aggressive gestures, they tried to provoke the Indians. It didn’t seem to be working, though — the undisputed world champions merely smirked.

As the match progressed though, the smirks would be replaced by worry lines verging on panic. Raw aggression had given the Iranians a 21-13 lead at the end of the first half. The major upset looked on the cards. Since kabaddi was introduced as a demonstration sport at New Delhi in 1982, and as a medal sport at Beijing in 1990, India had steamrolled all opponents. Finally, a challenger had emerged.

A second-half recovery saw India draw level at 24-24, with 7 minutes to go. They did escape to victory ultimately — 27-25 — but Iran had made a point.

After the match, with the silver medals hanging around their necks, the Iranians went about shattering myths and building a few of their own. “Kabaddi has been played in Iran for centuries. We gave the sport to India,” claimed the manager, Majid Bahrami.

He said he had first played the sport 30-odd years ago. “I spent my childhood playing the sport on rooftops, during lunch breaks in school, and on barren, pebble-packed grounds.”

Every region in Iran apparently has its own name for the sport. In Khorasan and Mazandaran, it is known as Zu-Zou, in Gilan it’s called Do-Do and, in Khuzestan, Ti-Ti. When raiders enter the opponents’ half, they just say “Zu” while holding their breath, instead of the familiar “kabaddi, kabaddi”.

Iran has some 100 kabaddi clubs for both men and women — many in the north-eastern province of Golestan. Yet, Iran has largely refrained from participating in international tournaments, mainly because the sport was seen only as a leisure activity.

The country began to take the sport seriously only in the last decade or so, the captain of the side, Fazel Atrachali, said. Its popularity cannot be compared to volleyball or football, he said.

“All these years, India has said they invented the sport. But the fact is that it was first played in Iran centuries ago, and then picked up by India. However, India have been the better exponents of the game, and have made it so popular,” Atrachali said.

In terms of success at the World Cups, Iran are currently second only to India. This was their third appearance at the Asian Games, and the side emerged as the top challenger to India. Iran were the runners up at the Guangzhou Asiad as well, losing to India in a one-sided final.

Their performance on Friday, however, showed just how far they’ve come. India have been cautiously monitoring their progress, and acknowledge the threat Iran poses. So, Iran is the only country to which it doesn’t send coaches to act as missionaries for kabaddi every year.

“We can’t afford that. They are too strong. If we teach them our tactics as well, it will return to haunt us,” L Shrinivas Reddy, who was coach of the South Korean team for the Incheon Games, said.

Head coach Edachery Bhaskaran knows India were saved on Friday only by their experience. “I understood midway through the tournament that Iran were the team to watch, so we studied a lot of their videos and made plans for particular players,” Bhaskaran said. “They have strength and stamina, but we are better in skill and technique.”

Atrachali, though, is confident Iran will catch up with India on skill by the time the next Asiad comes around. “Gold in 2018 for sure. We will end India’s dominance,” he said, as manager Bahrami patted him on the back. India coach Bhaskaran, standing nearby, smiled — a little nervously.

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