dubai giants india will start firm favourites when they lock horns with archrivals pakistan in the opening game of the inaugural sixnation kabaddi masters dubai 2018 on fridaythe tournament will provide an excellent opportunity for asian countries india pakistan iran and korea to get battleready for the asian games in jakarta and palembang starting august 18india are the defending champions and have won gold in every edition of the tournament since the sport was inducted in the main roster in the 1990 asiadasian games will once again have iran pakistan and korea among other teams and this tournament will be like a semifinal it will be a good opportunity for preparation india coach srinivas reddy saidindia are clubbed with pakistan and newcomers kenya in group a while group b features iran republic of korea and argentina with top two teams making the semifinalsflying raider ajay thakur will lead indias challenge after returning at the helm at the expense of longstanding captain anup kumarunder thakur india beat pakistan in successive matches en route to clinch the asian championship in iran a year agobesides thakur the indian team also has quality raiders in rahul chaudhari pardeep narwal rohit kumar rishank devadiga and monu goyat in their ranksin deepak hooda manjeet chhillar surender nada and girish ernak india also boast of topclass allrounders and defenders to lend a perfect balance to the sidethe second match of the opening day will see 2016 world cup finalists iran take on republic of koreatwotime asian games runnersup iran will be favourites to top group b and would look to challenge heavyweights india down the lineiran have lost to india thrice in the final of the kabaddi world cup 2004 2007 and 2016 and the sixnation meet will provide an excellent opportunity to reignite their rivalryall eyes would be on argentina who are new to the sport and their president ricardo acuna said the introduction of kabaddi in argentina has redefined sports participation this will surely be a moment of reckoning for argentinas kabaddi talentthe event organised by the international kabaddi federation in partnership with star india pvt ltd will likely witness the emergence of new talentskabaddi masters dubai 2018 is our first step in that direction and will elevate the stature of our sport considerably we are thankful to the dubai sports council as well as star india for their strong role in making this happen ikf president janardan singh saidmatch starts india vs pakistan 8 pm ist iran vs korea 9 pm ist