Dubai Masters: Semi Final- 2 India vs South Korea Match Report

The second semifinal of the day between India and South Korea promised a thriller as Korea had defeated India once in the league stages of Kabaddi World Cup and everyone was eagerly watching whether Jang Kun Lee and his men could repeat the same.

India chose a strong starting 7 with Rishank, Ajay and Pardeep and Deepak as cover. Mohit and Girish manned the corners. Winning the toss, India chose court and was trailing Korea by 4 points inside 10 minutes. Jang Kun Lee was raiding exceptionally well and India's defense seemed a bit unorganised than that of last few matches. Pardeep was seemingly not effective, coaches turned to the most expensive player in Pro Kabaddi auction Monu Goyat which paid off. Along with captain Ajay Thakur, India took the lead by inflicting an all out and by the end of first half were ahead by 7 points.

Half time scores read India 17- 10 South Korea.

After the break, Girish Ernak gave the moment of the match when he single-handedly pulled Korean raider Lee back from an advanced position. India followed it up with an all-out with a superb dash from the cover Surjeet to inflict an all-out that stretched their lead to 13 points. Scores 25-11.

In the last five minutes, India took their foot off the pedal as they usually do which could be termed as efficient match management and emerged comfortable winners with the score 36-20 in their favor setting up a clash with Iran for the glory.

Indian captain Ajay Thakur with 10 raid points outscored his Korean counterpart Jang Kun Lee who scored 8 points with superb on-court skills and fine strategy to inspire India to another comfortable win over their rivals.