Ahmedabad [India]: A dominant first half performance saw Thailand register an easy 69-22 win over USA in the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup on Sunday. Skipper Khomsan Thongkham scored 14 points as Thailand raiders put on a spectacular show at the TransStadia Arena in Ahmedabad.
Thailand scored 42 points and made little work of USA’s defence. USA were abysmal in the first half and scored just three points but learnt from their mistakes and performed credibly in the second half.
Thailand are on course to make the semi finals and are now second in Group B with 15 points from four matches. USA remains winless with no points after four games and are bottom of the group.
Thailand’s raiders scored three points in the first three minutes to lead 3-1. USA’s captain Troy Bacon scored with a raid in fourth point to trail 2-3. It was all Thailand after the fourth minute as they went on a rampage.
In the next six minutes they scored 10 points and inflicted an all out to lead 17-2. Captain Khomsan Thongkham led their charge and scored eight points in the first half as Thailand completely dominated the proceedings. 17-year-old ChanwitWichian scored 12 points for Thailand and was a thorn in the USA side for the entire match.
It was in the 14th minute that USA managed to score their third point and were looking completely out of sorts. Thailand inflicted the second all out in the 16th minute to lead 28-3. In the next four minutes Thailand scored 12 more points to lead 40-3 at the end of the first half.
USA didn’t trouble Thailand for even a single minute in the first half as Thailand asserted their supremacy at every given opportunity. Bismarck Charles and Troy Bacon scored two points for USA as they trailed 5-46 in the 23rd minute.
Thailand did take their foot off the pedal in the second half and USA did capitalize on it. USA scored seven points in the next six minutes compared to Thailand’s two and trailed 13-49 after 29 minutes.
USA performed much better in the second half as their raiders Charles and Bacon restored some pride for them. Khomsan scored two points in the 35th minute to give Thailand 54-16 lead. Thailand inflicted the fourth all out of the match in 36th minute to lead 58-16.
Bismarck Charles scored nine points for USA and was his team’s best player. Thailand led 63-20 in the 39th minute as ChanwitWichian attained a super 10. Thailand inflicted another all out in the dying seconds of the match to wrap up a comfortable 69-22 win. (ANI)