‘Perfect Start’: Captain Ajay Thakur on India’s Win Over Pakistan

“This win has boosted the team’s confidence,” said Thakur after India beat Pakistan in the Kabaddi Masters opener.

(Photo: The Quint)

Just the first match of the Kabaddi Masters and India have shown why they're arguably the best team in the world. The 2016 Kabaddi World Cup and Asian Kabaddi Championship winners thrashed Pakistan 36-20 in the six-nation tournament’s opening match in Dubai on Friday, 22 June. And India captain Ajay Thakur, who led from the front with 15 raid points, felt that it was the “perfect” start for the team.

We have been at the national camp for around 3-4 months. And since we knew our opening match would be against Pakistan, we didn’t want to make the same mistake of losing the opening match. I remember that happening in the 2016 World Cup.

Ajay Thakur, India Captain

“Once you lose an opening match, the team loses confidence and comes under lot of pressure. So I’d told the team earlier that the more seriously we take this match, the better it will be for us. Now that we’ve won, the team’s confidence has increased,” he added.

Cheers for both Indian and Pakistan had started echoing at the Al-Wasl Sports Complex much before the start of the game. Fans flooded the stadium with flags, cheering the teams through the exciting 40-minute match.

Hearing people cheer for India boosts our confidence. And so many people came out to support us in Dubai, it was almost the same as in India.

Ajay Thakur, India Captain

India will be playing Kenya in their second Group A game on Saturday, 23 June.