Ahmedabad, October 31, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
India completed a double triumph at the inaugural Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship 2026, clinching the men’s title with a commanding 54-20 victory over Sri Lanka in the final in Ahmedabad on Saturday.
The men’s triumph followed India Women’s 35-15 win over Uganda in the women’s final earlier in the evening, giving the hosts both championship titles.
Aditya Shinde led India’s scoring with a Super 10, collecting 10 raid points from 14 raids, including four bonus points. Bharat Hooda contributed eight raid points, all in the second half, and remained untackled in seven raids.
Pankaj Mohite added six points, while vice-captain Naveen Kumar scored five. In defence, Yogesh Dahiya produced a High 5, converting all five of his tackle attempts in the first half.
Shubham Shinde, captain Surjeet Singh, Pravesh Malik and Deepak Sankar contributed two tackle points each.
India registered 30 raid points and 14 tackle points, inflicted four All-Outs and did not concede one throughout the match.
For Sri Lanka, Maduwantha was the leading scorer with six tackle points, including two Super Tackles. Ansaf and Viduranga added three points each, but the Sri Lankan raiders struggled to make an impact.
Sabihan, Milinda Chathuranga and Viduranga, who had led the scoring in Sri Lanka’s semifinal victory over Kenya, managed just five raid points from 31 raids between them in the final.
Sri Lanka also failed in seven of their nine do-or-die raids, finishing with 11 raid points and nine tackle points.
India led 15-8 with 10 minutes remaining in the first half, having already inflicted an All-Out. They then dominated the closing stages, outscoring Sri Lanka 15-2 to establish a 30-10 half-time lead. A second All-Out came in the final five minutes of the half.
Sri Lanka managed only two successful raids from 21 attempts in the first half, while India’s defenders completed nine successful tackles from 10 attempts.
India maintained their control after the break, inflicting two more All-Outs, including the last in the final five minutes. They won the second half 24-10 to seal the title with a 34-point margin.
Overall, India completed 24 successful raids from 40 attempts, compared with Sri Lanka’s seven from 41.
After the match, top scorer Aditya Shinde credited the support of Ahmedabad’s spectators and expressed hope for continued backing in future competitions.
“With more and more tournaments being held, it’s great for the people of Ahmedabad too, and we received so much support from them. We hope everyone comes out to support us the same way in the competitions ahead. There will be a celebration, a really big one, and it’s already going on here!” he said.
India capped the championship with a perfect record of eight wins from eight matches.
They topped Group A with six victories, defeating England 46-26, Uganda 44-30, Malaysia 37-23, Nigeria 50-23, Tanzania 48-20 and Sri Lanka 45-24.
India then overwhelmed Bangladesh 56-27 in the semifinals before defeating Sri Lanka 54-20 in the final.
The hosts scored 380 points across the tournament and conceded 193, with no opponent managing to score more than 30 points against them.
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