India outclassed England to clinch a semifinal spot from Group A in the 2016 kabaddi World Cup here on Tuesday.
The Narwals — Pardeep and Sandeep — and Ajay Thakur moved in top gear while raiding and with good support from defender Surjeet, India steamrollered England 69-18 in the 40-minute league match.
The home team’s big win did not alter its position as it finished second behind Korea, the only team to remain unscathed in the league.
Kenya jumped to second behind Iran in Group B with a resounding win against USA. The African nation’s progress to the semifinals would largely hinge on the outcome of the clash between Thailand and Japan in the last league match of the competition.
A win for Thailand (15 points from four games) would eliminate Japan and Kenya, but a victory for Japan would bring the differential score (difference between total points won and total points conceded) into calculation and the team with a higher differential will qualify for the semifinals.
In case of a tie even after differential score has been considered, only total points scored will be considered and the team that has scored more points will qualify for the semifinals.
The results: Group A: India bt England 69-18. Group B: Kenya bt USA 74-19. — Special Correspondent
