England are 3v3 European Champions!

On Saturday 18th April, England Kabaddi Union, EKU, participated in the 1st EuroKabaddi 3v3 championships taking place in Warsaw, Poland. England emerged winners, stepping on to the top step of the podium by defeating Poland in the final!

Five teams participated in the championships, Poland as hosts, England, Scotland, Hungary and Norway. The tournament was played in a round robin format with the top two going into the final. 3v3 is a different format of Kabaddi played on a slightly smaller pitch, 7x11 meters instead of 10x13 meters (including the lobby). Instead of knock out all 3 players stay on the pitch and there are no empty raids.

The tournament already started on the back foot with Captain George getting injured and Ahilan not able to attend. In came Ahrujan to bolster the squad of Felix, Milan and Nithushan. However, after the weigh-in and opening ceremony there was a sense of calm and focus.

Our first match took place against Hungary, we started well and we carried momentum throughout the match. In particular, our raiding from all players was fantastic. Hungary failed to notch a single tackle point. England's defence struggled at times but we were able to secure a few tackles.

The next match was against Scotland, which may have been our worst half of the tournament with leaked tackles and suspect raiding in the first half. In the second half we really picked up and then began to pull away from Scotland, in the end securing a comfortable victory.

Poland was our next group game which was a real fight in the first half. We went toe to toe and there were only a few points in it going into half time. However, in the second half we crumbled as Poland's raiding stepped up and our defence struggled slightly. Unfortunately, we lost this game but left the game with many learnings.

By the time we played Norway after lunch we began to step up both in raiding and defending. Norway were no match for us and we held a commanding lead in the second half. After the last time-out we experimented with our aggressiveness focusing on chain tackles and blocks. Beating Norway ensured our place into the final as Poland had beaten everyone and we beat everyone else.

The final was a great event with the England team pumped up to perform. We saved the best for last. The first half started with Milan setting the tone with aggressive raiding and an excellent tackle from the in position. Felix and Nithushan were immense in defence blocking left right and center. We were winning at half time. Poland's raiders had no answer to our aggressive defence. Raid points from Felix, Milan and Ahrujan helped maintain an arm's length lead. We controlled the last two minutes and at the final whistle England were crowned the inaugural 3v3 European champions. Cue massive celebrations!

Poland finished runners up and Hungary came third, winning best defender and beat raider respectively. Felix Li was rightly given the MVP award for his incredible high level performances. A great tournament and we brought the trophy home to England.