The Iranian men’s national team has defeated South Korea at the semi-final stage of the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup in India to book its passage into the final match of the international sports event.

On Friday, the Iranian sportsmen ended their East Asian counterparts’ unbeaten run in the contest with a narrow 28-22 win at the TransStadia Arena in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad.

The Iranian outfit took an early lead in the first five minutes of the game, before South Koreans fairly built up defense and prevented Iran’s captain Me’raj Sheikh and raider Abolfazl Maghsoudlou from scoring points.

The East Asians Koreans then managed to heap pressure on Persians and eventually led 13-11 at the end of the first half.

After the break, the Iranian team drew on their resources in a bid to recover from the loss. The squad’s defense came together, helping it to gather momentum as South Korea stumbled.

The Iranian men finally made sure that they did not let the game slip from their hands, and beat South Koreans by a six-point advantage.

The Persians consequently became the first team to enter the Kabaddi World Cup title clash. India beat Thailand 73-20 later on Friday in another semi-final game.

Iran and India will face off in the final at the TransStadia Arena on Saturday.

Kabaddi is the national game of Bangladesh and also the state game of the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Punjab.

India has the most successful kabaddi team on the world stage, having won every world cup and Asian games title so far, in both men’s and women’s categories.

By Press TV