How Did India Win Both Titles at the Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship 2026?
Key Takeaways
- India won both titles at the inaugural Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship 2026 in Ahmedabad on 31 October 2026.
- The women's team beat Uganda 35-15 in the final, led by Sakshi's nine points; India led 22-7 at half-time.
- The men's team beat Sri Lanka 54-20 in the final, with Aditya Shinde scoring a Super 10 and India inflicting four all-outs.
- Both Indian teams finished unbeaten: the women won six matches from six, the men eight from eight.
- The tournament was organised by the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India at Ahmedabad's Veer Savarkar Sports Complex.
India completed a historic double at the Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship 2026 in Ahmedabad on 31 October 2026, with both the men's and women's teams winning the first-ever titles of the inaugural tournament. The women's team beat Uganda 35-15 in their final, and the men's team followed with a 54-20 win over Sri Lanka later the same evening at the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex. Neither team lost a single match in the tournament, and the double gold has put kabaddi — a sport born in India — firmly in the spotlight on a Commonwealth stage.
Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship 2026: What Happened in Ahmedabad?
The inaugural Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship 2026 was organised by the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) and held at the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex in Ahmedabad. Ten women's teams took part in the women's event, while the men's event featured a group stage followed by knockouts. India hosted the tournament, and the home crowd played a visible role in both finals, with players thanking Ahmedabad's supporters after their wins.
The finals were played on Saturday, 31 October 2026. The women's final came first in the evening session, and the men's final followed later the same evening. India won both finals by wide margins, and both teams finished the tournament unbeaten — the women with six wins from six matches, and the men with eight wins from eight.
For a sport that is often described as India's own, this was a symbolic moment: the first Commonwealth kabaddi champions, in both the men's and women's events, are Indian.
How the Women's Team Won: Uganda Beaten 35-15
The women's final was a commanding performance from the side led by captain Nidhi Sharma. India beat Uganda 35-15, a 20-point margin, to become the first women's champions of the tournament.
Sakshi was the star of the final. She scored nine points from 10 raids, including seven touch points and two bonus points. Seven of those points came in the first half, when she succeeded in all six of her raids. Anu Sen added six points and captain Nidhi Sharma scored five, including three bonus points. In defence, Ritu Mitharwal and Suman Sahu stood firm with four tackle points each.
India's dominance showed in the numbers. The team led 22-7 at half-time, having inflicted an all-out with about three and a half minutes of the first half remaining. Uganda, whose defence had been instrumental in their semi-final win, could not find a tackle point in the first half against India's raiders. Across the match, India led 20-14 in raid points and 10-1 in tackle points, and earned four extra points from two all-outs.
Uganda's top scorer was Nakayongo Shirat, who scored 11 of her team's 15 points, including three bonus points, from 24 of Uganda's 35 raids. Uganda did edge the second half on raid points, 7-6, but India's second all-out, with less than 10 minutes left, put the result beyond doubt.
Sakshi finished the championship with 52 points from six matches, making her India's standout performer of the tournament. After the final, she said she was feeling great that she could score nine raid points and help the team win, and thanked the AKFI for organising the championship.
India's road to the title was perfect. The women's team opened with a 73-13 win over Malaysia, then beat Singapore 32-16, Uganda 41-18 and Nigeria 38-10 to finish top of Group A. In the semi-final, India beat Sri Lanka 39-14, before sealing the trophy against Uganda in the final.
How the Men's Team Won: Sri Lanka Beaten 54-20
The men's final was even more one-sided. India beat Sri Lanka 54-20 to become the first men's champions of the inaugural championship, completing the double after the women's win earlier in the evening.
Aditya Shinde top-scored for India with a Super 10 — 10 raid points from 14 raids, including four bonus points. Bharat Hooda added eight raid points, all in the second half, and was not tackled once in seven raids. Pankaj Mohite chipped in with six points and vice-captain Naveen Kumar added five. In defence, Yogesh Dahiya led with a High 5 — five successful tackles from five attempts, all in the first half — while Shubham Shinde, captain Surjeet Singh, Pravesh Malik and Deepak Sankar added two tackle points each.
India's numbers tell the story of total control. The team scored 30 raid points and 14 tackle points, inflicted four all-outs and did not concede a single all-out. India led 15-8 with 10 minutes of the first half remaining, having already inflicted an all-out, then outscored Sri Lanka 15-2 to lead 30-10 at half-time, with a second all-out coming in the closing five minutes of the half. India won the second half 24-10, with two more all-outs after the break.
Sri Lanka's raiders struggled throughout. The team managed just two successful raids from 21 in the first half, while India's defenders made nine successful tackles from 10 attempts. Across the match, India made 24 successful raids from 40, compared with Sri Lanka's seven from 41. Sri Lanka also failed in seven of their nine do-or-die raids. Maduwantha was Sri Lanka's top scorer with six tackle points, including two Super Tackles, while Ansaf and Viduranga added three points each.
After the match, Aditya Shinde said it was great for the people of Ahmedabad too, that the team received so much support, and hoped fans would come out to support them the same way in future competitions — adding that a really big celebration was already going on.
The men's campaign was a clean sweep: eight wins from eight matches. India topped Group A with six wins, beating England 46-26, Uganda 44-30, Malaysia 37-23, Nigeria 50-23, Tanzania 48-20 and Sri Lanka 45-24. They then thrashed Bangladesh 56-27 in the semi-final before beating Sri Lanka 54-20 in the final. Across the tournament, India scored 380 points and conceded 193, and no opponent scored more than 30 points against them in any match.
Why This Double Gold Matters
First, it is a first. This was the inaugural edition of the Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship, so India are the first names on both trophies. Winning the first edition, at home, and unbeaten in both events, sets a benchmark that future editions will be measured against.
Second, it shows depth, not just one star team. Both the men's and women's squads dominated their tournaments — the women won every match, the men won every match, and both finals were won by 20 points or more. The scoring was spread across raiders and defenders in both teams, from Sakshi's 52 points across the women's tournament to Aditya Shinde's Super 10 in the men's final and Yogesh Dahiya's High 5 in defence.
Third, it matters for kabaddi's growth. Kabaddi already has a strong professional league structure in India, but a Commonwealth championship gives the sport a multi-nation, international-team format that reaches audiences beyond the league. A successful first edition in Ahmedabad — with 10 women's teams and a competitive men's field including England, Uganda, Malaysia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Kenya — gives organisers a base to build on.
Finally, the timing matters for Indian sport. The double gold came in the same week as other Indian sporting successes, including wrestler Manisha Bhanwala becoming India's first woman wrestling world champion and the men's hockey team winning big at the Asian Champions Trophy. Together, these results underline a broader run of Indian success across very different sports.
What Is Kabaddi, and How Does a Match Work?
For readers new to the sport, kabaddi is a contact team sport played on a rectangular court. In the standard style, each team has seven players on court. The game is built around raids and tackles: a raider crosses into the opponent's half, tries to tag defenders and return safely, while chanting "kabaddi, kabaddi" without taking a breath in the traditional form of the game. Defenders try to stop the raider and prevent a return. Points are scored for successful raids and tackles, and a team can score bonus points through all-outs, when all of the opponent's players are put out at once.
That structure is why the final scorelines above make sense: India's raid points (20 in the women's final, 30 in the men's final) plus tackle points (10 and 14 respectively) plus all-out bonuses built up the big margins, while strong defences kept Uganda and Sri Lanka from mounting comebacks.
What Happens Next for Indian Kabaddi?
The immediate question is whether the Commonwealth championship becomes a regular event and whether more Commonwealth nations build competitive teams. India's dominance in this first edition — 380 points scored and 193 conceded by the men, and a perfect women's campaign — shows how far ahead India currently are. For the tournament to grow, other nations will need more matches against top opposition, and India's players will need the challenge of closer contests.
For the Indian teams, the next steps are the domestic and international calendars that follow a major title: league seasons, national camps and the next international assignments. The players who starred in Ahmedabad — Sakshi, Nidhi Sharma, Aditya Shinde, Bharat Hooda and Yogesh Dahiya among them — will now carry the tag of first Commonwealth champions into those competitions.
For fans, the double gold is also a reminder of where to watch the sport's next chapter. The Ahmedabad finals drew a rousing home reception, and the players themselves pointed to that support after both finals. If the championship returns, the standard for the hosts — and for the teams trying to beat India — has now been set very high.
Conclusion
India's double gold at the Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship 2026 was as complete as a tournament win can be: two titles, two finals won by 20-plus points, and not a single defeat for either team. The women's 35-15 win over Uganda and the men's 54-20 win over Sri Lanka, both in Ahmedabad on 31 October 2026, made India the first champions of the inaugural edition in both events. The stars — Sakshi with 52 points in the women's tournament, Aditya Shinde with a Super 10 in the men's final — will rightly be remembered, but the deeper story is a team-wide dominance in attack and defence. For Indian kabaddi, this was a home triumph; for the sport, it was a first Commonwealth chapter written in gold.
Read more about India's recent sporting successes: [Manisha Bhanwala: India's First Woman Wrestling World Champion](https://indiaask.tech/question.php?slug=manisha-bhanwala-first-indian-woman-wrestling-world-champion-explained) and [India 13-0 Bangladesh: Asian Champions Trophy 2026 Hockey](https://indiaask.tech/question.php?slug=india-asian-champions-trophy-13-0-bangladesh-explained).
For the match details reported here, see [The Bridge's report on the women's final](https://thebridge.in/kabaddi/india-women-win-commonwealth-kabaddi-cship-58228) and [Telangana Today's report on the men's final](https://telanganatoday.com/india-thrashes-sri-lanka-to-win-commonwealth-kabaddi-title).
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Who won the Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship 2026?
India won both titles at the inaugural Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship 2026 in Ahmedabad. The women's team beat Uganda 35-15 in the final and the men's team beat Sri Lanka 54-20, both on 31 October 2026. Both Indian teams finished the tournament unbeaten.
What was the score in the women's kabaddi final between India and Uganda?
India beat Uganda 35-15 in the women's final at the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex in Ahmedabad. Sakshi top-scored for India with nine points from 10 raids, Anu Sen added six points and captain Nidhi Sharma scored five. India led 22-7 at half-time.
What was the score in the men's kabaddi final between India and Sri Lanka?
India beat Sri Lanka 54-20 in the men's final. Aditya Shinde top-scored with a Super 10 (10 raid points from 14 raids), Bharat Hooda added eight raid points and Yogesh Dahiya led the defence with a High 5. India led 30-10 at half-time and inflicted four all-outs in the match.
Was this the first Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship?
Yes. The 2026 event in Ahmedabad was the inaugural edition of the Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship, organised by the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI). India are therefore the first champions in both the men's and women's events.
Read Next on IndiaAsk
- Another recent Indian sporting first: Manisha Bhanwala became India's first woman wrestling world champion. Manisha Bhanwala: India's First Woman Wrestling World Champion
- India's hockey team also won big recently, beating Bangladesh 13-0 at the Asian Champions Trophy 2026. India 13-0 Bangladesh: Asian Champions Trophy 2026 Hockey
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