India achieved a clean sweep in Kabaddi at the Asian Youth Games 2025 in Manama, Bahrain, with both the boys’ and girls’ teams clinching gold medals.
Both Indian sides triumphed over Iran in their respective finals, though in contrasting styles. The boys’ team battled hard to edge past Iran 35-32, while the girls’ team dominated their final, crushing Iran 75-21.
The Indian girls’ team remained unbeaten throughout the tournament, topping the group stage with emphatic wins over Bangladesh (46-18), Thailand (70-23), Sri Lanka (73-10), and Iran (59-26). The top two teams from the round-robin phase advanced to the gold medal match.
The boys’ team also went undefeated, securing convincing victories over Bangladesh (83-19), Sri Lanka (89-16), Pakistan (81-26), Iran (46-29), hosts Bahrain (84-40), and Thailand (85-30) before sealing their gold medal.
India’s medal tally received further boosts from taekwondo and athletics. In taekwondo, Debasish Das bagged bronze in the boys’ individual recognised poomsae event after reaching the semi-finals. He defeated Bangladesh’s Tahib Hossan Osman and Mongolia’s Amar Amgalan before losing to China’s Gao Zixuan. In the mixed pair recognised poomsae, Yashwini Singh and Shivanshu Patel also secured bronze after falling to Thailand in the semi-finals.
In athletics, Ranjana Yadav opened India’s medal account with a silver in the girls’ 5000m walk, clocking 24:25.88s behind China’s Liu Shiyi (24:15.27s). Riya Rathore finished fourth in the same event. Jasmine Kaur earned bronze in the girls’ shot put with a throw of 14.86m, while Shourya Ambure clinched silver in the girls’ 100m hurdles with a personal best of 13.73s.
With the Kabaddi double gold, India’s overall tally at the Games rose to 10 medals — two gold, three silver, and five bronze.
A 222-member Indian contingent is representing the nation at the continental event, which concludes on October 31.
