Services won the gold medal in the 71st Senior National Kabaddi Championship (Men), defeating Railways 36-34 in the nail-biting final at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Cuttack today. Bronze medals were claimed by losing semifinalists Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

Though Odisha hosted the Senior National Championship for the first time, Odisha Kabaddi Association (OKA) is alleged to have fielded a 12-member State team that featured seven players from Haryana and five from Odisha. The Odisha team seemed to be the B team of Haryana.

The seven Haryana players were identified as Narender, Rohit Raghav, Vinay Redhu, Sunny Sehrawat, Harsh Kumar, Ajay Nandal and Sawan Khatri. The five native Odisha players were: Rajesh Kumar Dehuri, Santosh Barik, Niraj Sethi, Kunal Bhoi and Bhupinder Rout.

As many as 30 state teams and three institutional sides participated in the four-day championship, which was supported by the Government of Odisha. According to media reports two more imported players (Rinku Yadav, Niroj Kumar) also represented the Odisha team.

Placed in Group-F, along with Vidarbha, Jharkhand and Rajasthan, Odisha won two of their three league matches to qualify for pre-quarterfinals. Odisha beat Vidarbha 57-28 and Jharkhand 54-28. The Odisha-Rajasthan match was abandoned. In the pre-quarterfinals, Odisha lost to Maharashtra 26-43.

Defending the inclusion of imported players in the Odisha team, OKA secretary Ajaya Kumar Behera is reported to have said that they were were working in Railways or studying at Central Sanskrit University in Puri. The imported players attended the State selection camp and got into the Odisha team.
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PHOTO: Players and officials of Odisha team pose at the 71st Senior National Kabaddi Championship (Men) at JN Indoor Stadium in Cuttack on 22 February 2025.