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India Vs. Argentina Kabaddi World Cup Live Stream: How To Watch Online, Start Time, Preview

By Jonathan Vankin
Published on: 11:53 PST, Oct 14, 2016

The Kabaddi World Cup is back after a nine-year absence, and fans who want to watch a live stream of the Saturday match pitting defending champions India against winless Argentina can find full instructions below on how to access the match online. While Argentina are not expected to pose much a threat to the host nation, India have already showed vulnerability, dropping their opening match of the 12-nation, 2016 competition.

The India vs. Argentina 2016 Kabaddi World Cup match is scheduled to get underway at 9 p.m. India Standard Time on Saturday, October 15, at The Arena by Transstadia in Ahmedabad, the largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. For fans in Argentina, that start time will be 12:30 p.m.. In the United States, kabaddi fans, and those who want a first look at the ancient sport still largely unfamiliar outside of the Indian subcontinent, can catch the live stream starting at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, 8:30 a.m. Pacific.

Here’s how to watch a live stream for free in India, Argentina, or the United States.

How To Watch a Live Stream of India vs. Argentina Kabaddi In India For Free

HotStar Sports will live stream the India vs. Argentina 2016 Kabaddi World Cup match series in India. The stream can be accessed at this link. Click on the word “live” to the left of “IND VS ARG.” Bear in mind that the HotStar stream will be available only to viewers with an internet IP address inside of India.

HotStar offers two options — a paid premium membership, which comes with a free trial and requires registration, or a free option which will stream the match on a five-minute delay but can be accessed immediately by clicking on the “Watch For Free” box which can be seen after clicking “live,” as described above.

How To Watch a Free Live Stream in the United States

To watch the India vs. Argentina Kabaddi World Cup showdown stream live online for free without login credentials from a cable provider required, go to ESPN3, the online-only channel in the ESPN network. ESPN3 will carry the game live at this link. ESPN3 is free to subscribers of most major internet service providers and many minor ISPs as well. For a full list, check this link. The WatchESPN and ESPN apps will allow fans to catch the live stream of India vs. Argentina kabaddi on mobile devices as well.

How To Watch in Argentina

In Argentina, the Kabaddi World Cup match Saturday against India will stream live via ESPNPlay, which is the ESPN Latin America equivalent of ESPN3 — and may be accessed at this link throughout the South American market. the ESPNPlay app will also make the match available to stream on most mobile devices.

India Have Won Both Previous Kabaddi World Cup Titles

India, the country that invented kabaddi — an ancient sport said to date to prehistoric times — remains the dominant force in international competition. The World Cup tournament has been held only twice before, in 2004 and 2007, and India won both times. In fact, India went undefeated throughout both tournaments, winning all of their group stage matches before cruising through the knockout rounds. India also hosted both previous Kabaddi World Cup competitions.

So it was a shock to say the least when India, heavily favored to capture a third consecutive World Cup, opened the tournament on October 7 with a stunning 34-32 loss to South Korea.

Watch the entire India vs. South Korea match in the following video.

“No team goes into the field with the intention of losing. We had every intention of winning,” India Captain Anup Kumar said after the stunning defeat. “We made a few mistakes and they capitalized on them. We did the same to them when they made mistakes. We never enter the arena to lose but today wasn’t our best game.”

India quickly rebounded with dominant wins over Australia and Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, South Korea top Group A with three wins against no losses for 15 points.

Watch highlights of India’s victory over Australia in the video below.

Argentina have yet to win a match, but with South Korea facing another “minnow” side in Australia earlier on Saturday, India will likely need to wait until the final match of the group stage if they aim to overtake the South Koreans atop the group heading into the knockout round.

What Are The Rules of Kabaddi?

Kabaddi is growing fast in popularity on the Indian subcontinent, with a Pro Kabaddi league — modeled on the Indian Premier League franchise cricket competition — completing its fourth successful season in July.

Here are the basic rules, as explained by the International Kabaddi Federation, the governing body that stages the Kabaddi World Cup.

•Kabaddi is a high intensity contact sport where the objective is to enter the opponent’s half of the court, tag their players and successfully return back.

•The sport is contested by two teams consisting of seven players each. Each team starts the game with seven players on court and five substitutes on the bench.

•Each Kabaddi match spans a duration of 40 minutes comprising of events called raids.

•A raid starts when a player enters the opposition court. A player who enters the opposition half of the court for a raid is called a raider.

•A player from the opposition team who tackles or has the opportunity to tackle a raider is called a defender.

•The maximum duration of each raid is 30 seconds and during the raid, the raider has to keep chanting “Kabaddi Kabaddi”, known as the Cant.

India closes out group stage play in the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup with a match against England on Tuesday, October 18.

[Featured Image By Facebook/Kabaddi World Cup]

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