India won both titles at the first Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship in Ahmedabad on Saturday, 31 October 2026. The men beat Sri Lanka 54 to 20 in their final, while the women beat Uganda 35 to 15 earlier in the evening, The Tribune reported, carrying an ANI report.
Both Indian teams finished the Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship without losing a match. The event ran from 23 to 31 October at the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex, with 13 teams in the men’s competition and 10 in the women’s, according to Olympics.com.
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Men’s final: Aditya Shinde leads the rout
The men’s final was over as a contest by half time. India led 15 to 8 with ten minutes of the first half left and had already inflicted an All Out. They then outscored Sri Lanka 15 to 2 to go into the break 30 to 10 ahead, with a second All Out in the closing minutes of the half, The Tribune reported.
Aditya Shinde top scored with a Super 10, collecting 10 raid points from 14 raids, including four bonus points. Bharat Hooda added eight raid points, all after the break, and was not tackled once in seven raids. Pankaj Mohite scored six points and vice captain Naveen Kumar five.
In defence, Yogesh Dahiya completed a High 5, succeeding with all five of his tackle attempts in the first half. Shubham Shinde, captain Surjeet Singh, Pravesh Malik and Deepak Sankar took two tackle points each. India scored 30 raid points and 14 tackle points, inflicted four All Outs and did not concede one, Sportstar and The Tribune reported.
Sri Lanka’s raiders had little answer. Sabihan, Milinda Chathuranga and Viduranga, who had led the scoring in the semifinal win over Kenya, managed only five raid points from 31 raids between them. Maduwantha was Sri Lanka’s best player with six tackle points, including two Super Tackles.
“There will be a celebration”
Shinde thanked the home crowd after the match. “With more and more tournaments being held, it’s great for the people of Ahmedabad too, and we received so much support from them,” he said, according to The Tribune and The Times of India. “There will be a celebration, a really big one, and it’s already going on here!”
A perfect men’s campaign
The title capped eight wins from eight matches. In Group A, India beat England 46 to 26, Uganda 44 to 30, Malaysia 37 to 23, Nigeria 50 to 23, Tanzania 48 to 20 and Sri Lanka 45 to 24. They then beat Bangladesh 56 to 27 in the semifinal. Across the tournament, India scored 380 points and conceded 193, and no opponent scored more than 30 against them, The Tribune reported.
Women’s final: Sakshi stars against Uganda
The women’s final followed a similar pattern. India led 7 to 3 with ten minutes of the first half remaining, then outscored Uganda 15 to 4, including an All Out, to lead 22 to 7 at half time, a second Tribune report said. India did not lose a single raid in the first half.
Sakshi top scored with nine raid points from 10 raids, including two bonus points, and was successful in all six of her first half raids. Anu Sen added six points and captain Nidhi Sharma five, including three bonus points. Ritu Mitharwal and Suman Sahu each took four tackle points, Sportstar reported. India inflicted two All Outs in the match.
Uganda’s attack depended heavily on Nakayongo Shirat, who made 24 of the team’s 35 raids and scored 11 of its 15 points. A second half tackle by Zalwango Jemima was the only time Uganda stopped an Indian raider all match, The Tribune said.
Sakshi finished the championship with 52 points from six matches. “I’m feeling great that I could score 9 raid points and help the team win,” she said, according to The Tribune. She added that tournaments like this would help the growth of the sport and benefit young players, and thanked the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India for organising it.
The women’s road to the title
India’s women also won all six of their matches. They opened with a 73 to 13 win over Malaysia, then beat Singapore 32 to 16, Uganda 41 to 18 and Nigeria 38 to 10 to top Group A, before beating Sri Lanka 39 to 14 in the semifinal, The Tribune reported. Uganda reached the final after beating Kenya, who had been unbeaten until then, Olympics.com noted.
Why the double matters
Kabaddi has deep roots in Indian villages, and India have long dominated the sport internationally. A Commonwealth event gives countries such as Uganda, Kenya, Sri Lanka and England a new stage, and several of them showed progress in Ahmedabad. Kenya, for example, posted the highest women’s score of the tournament with an 82 to 6 win over England, Olympics.com said. For India, sweeping both titles at the first edition sets the benchmark for every team that follows.
Read more on Bharat Stories about how kabaddi began, traditional Indian games and sports and the history of sports and games in India.
Featured image photo: Rainer Halama, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. It is a representative photo of a village kabaddi match in Chettinad, Tamil Nadu, in March 2025 and does not show the Indian national teams.
FAQ
Who won the Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship 2026?
India won both titles. The men beat Sri Lanka 54 to 20 and the women beat Uganda 35 to 15 in the finals on 31 October 2026.
Where was the Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship held?
At the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, from 23 to 31 October 2026.
Who were India’s top scorers in the finals?
Aditya Shinde scored a Super 10 in the men’s final, and Sakshi scored nine raid points in the women’s final.
Sources
- The Tribune (ANI), 31 October 2026: men’s final details, Aditya Shinde’s quote and India’s results.
- The Tribune (ANI), 31 October 2026: women’s final details, Sakshi’s quote and the women’s results.
- Sportstar, 31 October 2026: both finals, top scorers and defensive numbers.
- The Times of India, 31 October 2026: men’s final and Shinde’s remarks.
- Olympics.com, 31 October 2026: venue, dates, team numbers and other results.