Hyderabad, Jan 29 (IANS) The knockout phase of the 72nd Women’s Senior National Kabaddi Championship started at the G.M.C Balayogi Stadium at Gachibowli in Hyderabad on Thursday after the league stage ended, with several teams securing spots in the quarterfinals through the pre-quarterfinal round.
At the conclusion of the group phase, Indian Railways, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, aryDelhi, Hana, Vidarbha, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Rajasthan advanced to the pre-quarterfinals, leading to an exciting evening of knockout matches.
In the pre-quarterfinals, Indian Railways moved forward with a 46–27 victory over Karnataka, while Maharashtra narrowly defeated Goa 42–36. Madhya Pradesh secured a 41–36 win against Delhi, and Haryana delivered a strong performance to beat Vidarbha 50–19.
Chandigarh secured their spot in the quarterfinals with a 45–39 win over Uttar Pradesh. Tamil Nadu completed the list of qualifiers with a 34–30 victory against Rajasthan. Punjab and Himachal Pradesh advanced to the quarterfinals—Punjab beat hosts Telangana 42–25 in Pre-Quarterfinal 7, and Himachal Pradesh defeated Gujarat 67–22 in Pre-Quarterfinal 8.
Karthika R. from Tamil Nadu maintained her impressive performance with steady raiding throughout the league stage. Meanwhile, Bhumika from Uttarakhand and Chhaya from Chhattisgarh emerged as some of the most active attackers across the matches. On defense, Monika from Chandigarh distinguished herself with a high success rate in tackles, while Ghadhavi Sabhai of Gujarat and Muskan Sharma of Madhya Pradesh also played significant roles.
Day 2 of the competition on Wednesday delivered a mix of commanding performances and tightly fought encounters across all eight pools, with Indian Railways stamping their authority in Pool A through emphatic wins over Jammu & Kashmir (88–12) and Delhi (54–21), while Pool B saw contrasting fortunes as Uttar Pradesh edged Assam 37–27 before falling to Himachal Pradesh 34–21.
Pool C was dominated by Telangana (50–16) and Rajasthan (76–12) against Puducherry, while Pool D featured strong outings from Goa (74–20 vs Jharkhand) and Haryana (52–26 vs Goa).
Pool E saw Maharashtra register a comfortable 57–20 victory over Vidarbha. Pool F produced a competitive clash with Punjab, narrowly defeating Bihar 39–31, and Pool G delivered one of the closest games of the day as Gujarat edged Odisha 29–26. Pool H concluded proceedings with Madhya Pradesh securing a solid 48–23 win over Andhra Pradesh.
The confirmed quarterfinal line-up, to be played later on Thursday, is:
QF1: Indian Railways vs Maharashtra
QF2: Madhya Pradesh vs Haryana
QF3: Chandigarh vs Tamil Nadu
QF4: Punjab vs Himachal Pradesh
The semifinals and final of the 72nd Women’s Senior National Kabaddi Championship will be played on January 30.
