Pakistan won the Kabaddi World Cup 2020 by beating India in a thriller by 43-41 at Lahore’s Punjab Stadium on Sunday.
Punjab Governor Ch Sarwar, Punjab Sports Minister Rai Taimoor Khan, Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat, Provincial Minister for Agriculture Malik Nauman Ahmad Langrial and other guests honoured the occasion.
A huge number of Kabaddi fans watched the match at Punjab Stadium. It is first time that Pakistan has won a world cup.
Pakistan were struggling in the first half, but they came back strongly in the second half to win the match by a narrow margin of two points.
Captain Irfan Mana (raider), Shafiq Chishti (raider) and Malik Binyameen (raider) played a vital role in Pakistan’s victory.
The winning side completed a lap across the stadium after the match as the stadium cheered them on.
Earlier, Iran bagged third position by thrashing Australia.
Besides host Pakistan, India, Iran, Canada, Australia, England, Sierra Leone, Kenya and Azerbaijan teams participated in the event.
This was the first time the Kabaddi World Cup was held in Pakistan. All of the previous world cups were hosted by India.
Congratulatory messages keep pouring in
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, Senator Faisal Javed Khan and others extended greetings to the Kabaddi team and management over winning the world cup.
In a tweet, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa felicitated Pakistan team on victory against India in Kabaddi World Cup 2020.
Buzdar said: "Wonderful game of Kabaddi and well deserved victory by Team Pakistan. Congratulations to every Pakistani celebrating this win today."
Former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated the nation on winning Kabaddi World Cup.
PTI senior leader Jahangir Khan Tareen also greeted Pakistan over their historic win.