India's kabaddi team captain Ajay Thakur feels the men's team is primed to win an eighth successive gold in the Asian Games to be held in Indonesia next month and said the biggest challenge will come from Iran and Pakistan.
"The men's and womens teams are geared up to achieve their 8th consecutive gold and 3rd consecutive gold respectively at the Asian games," he told PTI in an interaction.
"Our athletes have consistently proved their mettle and have performed under pressure.
Winning the recently concluded Kabaddi Masters Dubai 2018 has significantly raised the spirits of the team as we went up against a few top contenders for the Asian Games including Pakistan and Iran.
We aim to continue the positive momentum at the Asian games as well," Thakur said.
He felt Iran, Pakistan and Republic of Korea would be the biggest challenge to the Indian team at the Asiad and said they had a mix of youth and experience to shine in the games.
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"Among the teams featuring in the Asian Games, Iran, Pakistan and Republic of Korea are the teams to beat.
All the three teams possess a perfect balance of youth as well as seasoned players and they have the uncanny ability to raise the quality of their game in crunch situations," he said.
Thakur, who was part of the Tamil Thalaivas team in the Pro Kabaddi League last season, said the league had helped raise the standard of the game in the country.
"It has also given Kabaddi players the opportunity to make their careers in the sport which is evident in the auctions each season," he added.