Ludhiana: Hosts India defeated Canada 59-25 in the final to lift the World Cup in men's Kabaddi at Guru Nanak Stadium here on Sunday night.
Indians maintained their dominance right from the start and were leading 28-13 by half-time over Canadians, who had lost a few players earlier to doping.
Canadians, who had defeated Pakistan in the semi-finals in the tournament earlier, struggled to maintain momentum in the second half as Indian raiders took points at will.
With the win on Sunday night, Indians pursed Rs. 2 crore while the runners-up pocketed Rs. 1 crore.
Despite the match played under floodlights and continuing close to midnight, the stadium remained packed with people who had come to watch the contest.
The tournament had been marred by doping controversy which had continued unabated in the Punjab Government-organised tournament, with players from United States, Canada, India and other nations falling in the dope trap.
National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) had even demanded adequate security for its officials conducting dope tests to avoid any untoward incident.
Australia and USA teams were disqualified as most of their players were found dope positive by NADA.
In the women’s final played here earlier this evening, India thrashed UK 44-17 as the visitors failed to tackle the dominant Indian attacks.
Earlier on Sunday night, a scintillating closing ceremony of the Kabaddi World Cup brought to an end the 20-day-long sports extravaganza in which 14 countries in the men's section and four countries in the women's section vied for a total of Rs. 4.11 crore prize money.
On this occasion, Pakistan’s Former Prime Minister Chaudhary Sujaat Hussain, former Information and Sports Minister Chaudhary Nisar Hussain, Pakistan Punjab's former Education Minister Mian Imran Masood, acting Ambassador of Germany Ford Millard, Indian Punjab's Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister and state's Sports Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, and Punjab Cabinet Minister Tikshan Sud, along with his several Cabinet colleagues, were also present.
While Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan performed on the inaugural ceremony held in Bathinda on November 1, the closing ceremony here was brought alive by Bollywood heartthrobs Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone and Chitrangda Singh.
Speaking on the occasion, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal thanked the teams and organisers of all the participating countries for making this grand event a success and taking Kabaddi to the international arena.
Sukhbir Singh Badal said that his dream to take Kabaddi to the Olympic level was near completion and he was hoping to take Kabaddi to the Brazil Olympics in 2016.
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