Indian women's kabaddi team defeat Thailand to clinch gold medal at Asian Beach Games

Danang: India bagged their first gold medal at the 5th Asian Beach Games with the women’s beach kabaddi team winning the title for the record fifth time in succession in Danang, Vietnam. Indian beat Thailand 41-31 in a hard-fought summit clash at Bien Dong Park. The Indian women’s kabaddi team had been winning the gold since the inception of the biennial Games in 2008. [caption id=“attachment_3025078” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Indian women’s kabaddi team won the gold medal at the Asian Beach Game 2016. Image courtesy: Facebook/All India Radio News[/caption] For Thailand, it was the fifth time in a row they had lost to India in a final, although there was some consolation in that the 10-point margin was the closest they had got to the all-conquering Indians in the four previous gold medal matches. Silver medallists in the event at each of the previous four Asian Beach Games, Pakistan finally made it to the top of the podium. In women’s 70kg category kurash (a form of wrestling originated in Uzbekistan), Amisha Tokas won a silver after losing to Nguyen Thi Lan of Vietnam in the final. In beach bodybuilding, Manoj Kumar Majumdar won a bronze in upto 158cm category. India has so far won six medals (1 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze) in the Games. India are now at 15th spot in the medal table headed by hosts Vietnam (25 gold, 22 silver, 27 bronze). The Indian men’s beach kabaddi team, however, lost to arch-rivals Pakistan 28-30 in a nerve-wrecking final to settle for a silver. India had won gold in men’s beach kabaddi the 2008 and 2010 editions.