Doha: India maintained their monopoly in the Asian Games kabaddi competition by clinching their fifth consecutive gold medal in the event with a comfortable victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in the final here yesterday (Dec 6, 2006).

The Indians scripted a 35-23 victory in a highly surcharged summit showdown watched by a capacity crowd at the Aspire Hall.

The defending champions, who have maintained their supremacy in the game ever since its introduction in Beijing in 1990, opened up a lead of 21-14 at half-time and did not allow their rivals to come back into the game.

The venue was packed to capacity, mainly by Indian and Pakistan supporters, well before the start of the match and the security personnel had a trying time to keep off hundreds of other spectators who could not enter the venue.

The Indians managed four lona and four bonus points during the tense tussle while the Pakistanis managed as many as ten bonus points.

The Indians were superior in their raiding skills and Rakesh Kumar, captain Dinesh Kumar and Pankaj Shirsat were particularly impressive for the titleholders.

Unlike the previous league match between the two teams, there was no heated exchange of words and players of both the teams did not get into needless arguments over the referee's rulings.

In the bronze medal match, Bangladesh edged past Iran 30-26 to claim third position in a keenly contested encounter.