India have won the Kabaddi World Cup, but Taiwan are leaving Dhaka asking serious questions about how the tournament's biggest match was officiated. The Indian men beat Taiwan 35-28 in the final on Monday at the end of a 10-day, 11-nation event, claiming the title in a contest that was tighter and more controversial than the final scoreline suggests.
Taiwan started the final the better side. They led 12-9 in the opening exchanges with disciplined defensive structure and clean raiding from their lead chasers. India, the heavy favourites and the dominant force in international kabaddi for more than a decade, found themselves chasing the game and adjusting their setup on the fly.
The momentum shifted before half-time. India's superior physical conditioning and a height advantage that included four players above 1.8 metres tall gradually tilted the contest. Taiwan went into the break trailing 20-16, and the second half became a story of the Indian raiders breaking through cover defenders that were now visibly fatigued.
The pivotal moment, in the eyes of the Taiwan camp, was a refereeing decision that ruled four Taiwan defenders out of a single play instead of the two who had actually made contact with the Indian raider. The call swung a key sequence in the second half and effectively closed the door on any Taiwan comeback.
"That decision really hurt our morale," Taiwan coach Tsai Wei-yang said after the match. He did not hold back on the wider feeling within his squad. "The loss was a bitter one," he added.
Tsai's reaction was measured for someone who had just watched a controversial decision reshape a World Cup final. The Taiwanese federation has been one of the few outside the South Asian heartland to consistently push India in major events, and the gap between the two sides has narrowed across each of the last three competitive cycles.
The loss is the second consecutive narrow defeat Taiwan have suffered against India. They lost by a single point in the kabaddi competition at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, a result that confirmed Taiwan as the most credible non-South Asian threat in the men's game. The Dhaka final was their best chance to date to break that pattern.
"After returning to Taiwan, we will do more analysis and research to figure out how to overcome India's lineup," Tsai said. The coach pointed to the physical mismatch as the key area of focus, with India's height and reach advantage repeatedly converting into successful tackles in the back third of the second half.
The wider Kabaddi World Cup story is one of growth. Eleven nations took part in the 2025 edition, with the tournament running from 17 to 26 November in Dhaka. The format produced upsets in earlier rounds, and the broadcast numbers across the South Asian region set new highs for the international men's competition.
For India, the trophy is another notch on a near-uninterrupted run of dominance. For Taiwan, the silver is a credit to a programme that has built itself into a genuine contender on a fraction of the budget that the major Asian federations operate on. The next cycle is already in view, and Tsai's promised analysis will need to find answers to a physical mismatch that, more than any single refereeing decision, decided this World Cup final.