2023 was a truly memorable year for Indian sport. With so much having happened, ESPN India picks ten images that tell the story of the most stunning moments we witnessed over the year. Our seventh pick is the Asian Games Kabaddi final between India and Iran.
An hour and two minutes. 22 minutes longer than an actual match of Kabaddi. That was how long the Asian Games men's final between India and Iran was paused, with just over a minute left on the match clock.
Why? Incredibly, because the officials weren't sure what the rules were.
First, some context. It was a massive game for India, especially. After 2018, when they were beaten by Iran in the semifinal of the Asian Games, in the lowest moment for the sport in the country, they were keen for revenge this time. They were keen to set the record straight. After the only time when they didn't win the Asian Games kabaddi gold, this was a grudge match for the Indians.
It couldn't have been any closer. 28-28. 65 seconds to play. From an Indian perspective, they would've not hoped for anything better than captain Pawan Sehrawat stepping up to raid at that moment.
And then, mayhem.
Pawan stepped into the lobby without touching any defender - in the PKL, it would've been simple outcome following a tweak to the rules in 2022. Pawan would be out. Iran would get a point. We'd have gone on.
However, the umpires and the judges first awarded a point each to either side, because Iranian defenders had followed Pawan into the lobby as well. That was not a correct outcome based on either the new or the old PKL rules (which is what the International Kabaddi Federation followed).
India reviewed. The umpire came back from review and gave India three points and Iran one. Then Iran protested. Their captain Fazel Atrachali spoke with the referee, all while coach Gholamreza Mazandarani kept his charges calm.
The Indian coach E. Bhaskaran was the opposite of calm. The officials reviewed the review and sent the decision Iran's way. Bhaskaran asked his players to just sit on the mat. After another round of back-and-forth, the Iranians were incensed, it was their turn to come out and sit on the mat. The judges and referees had nowhere to go, and after a few more rounds of boisterous protests, they eventually awarded three points to India.
Iran eventually played the remaining minute and lost the final by four points. That final minute should have never been played under those circumstances.
This was supposed to be a spectacle. The two best Kabaddi teams in the world. Two teams who know each other so well. At the highest stage, this was supposed to be the best advertisement for it. Instead, it descended into a farce.
Given the stakes, one understood both teams' grievances. Losing wasn't an option that night in Hangzhou. There was lot more than just a win in a kabaddi match on offer.
India prevailed, but for the IKF, those 62 minutes were an embarrassment. Their own officials, with little to no working knowledge of their own sport's laws had shown them up when they were the cynosure of all eyes. For a sport fighting for more recognition than it has, this wasn't the kind of recognition they would've wanted. 62 minutes of shame.