Gurdaspur: Norway, America and Italy trounced Spain, Pakistan and Argentina, respectively, during starting matches of World Cup Kabaddi in Pool B at Government College Floodlit Sports Stadium here on Friday.
In a significant match, the United States of America routed the runners up of last year World Kabaddi Cup -- Pakistan with a margin of 43-39. USA was leading its rivals by a margin of 23-20 at the half time. Mike Seattle played well and got three points for his team in the starting minutes. Though Pakistan fought back to level the score at 37-37, but they could not maintain the same temperament before the extraordinary performance of Mike Seattle, which brought victory for USA.
Meanwhile earlier, Norway took a speedy lead and till the half time the team was ahead by 29-12. The players successfully maintained the lead till final whistle.
In the third match, Italy trounced Argentina with a big margin of 68-8. The Italian players showed their dominance till end and did not give any chance to the Argentinean players to score points.
Earlier, the stadium was inaugurated by Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal before the commencement of Pool B matches. Prominent amongst other present on the occasion were Speaker of Punjab Vidhan Sabha Nirmal Singh Kahlon, Agriculture Minister Sucha Singh Langah, NRI Affairs Minister Captain Balbir Singh Bath, Jagdish Sahni and Gurcharan Singh Babbehali (both MLAs).
