Mumbai, Sept. 27 -- Sparks flew after almost every move. There were arguments, finger-pointing, snarls and thigh-slapping celebrations. In no other kabaddi match, in no other tournament, and against no other opponent did a single point matter more. For over a decade, Iran has been the undisputed challenger to a throne that the Indian men's team has virtually owned. Iran broke India's seeming invincibility once, at the 2018 Asian Games. They threatened to do it again on Saturday in Aichi. But defending champions India had learnt their lesson - they would not let it happen. In the final of the men's kabaddi event at the 2026 Asian Games in Japan, India won 40-34. A few hours earlier, the Iranian women's team had also challenged to topple India, just as they had done in the final of the 2018 edition. But India, who reclaimed their title at the Hangzhou Asiad, bounced back to win a tight match 37-34. The women's and men's triumphs in Japan gave India their third and fourth gold medals at the Games. And both matches proved to be tremendous advertisement for the sport. Both teams, as expected, reached the final without much hassle, brushing aside all opposition in their way. Against each other, knowing that every point had to be earned, the opening exchanges remained feisty, decisions were disputed and the officials struggled to keep proceedings under control. As the minutes passed, it was clear why this match was the one everyone in the kabaddi fraternity wanted to watch. In the stands there were players from the Nepal team watching, players from the Indian and Iranian women's team cheering. For quite a while it looked like Iran was on the verge of pulling off another upset. Iran, a country that roped in wrestlers and transformed them into powerful kabaddi players, defended with menace. India's star raiders Arjun Deshwal, Ayan Lochab and Devank Dalal were stopped, and how. To add to that, Iran's Alimohammad Zafardanesh was sent in to raid with India leading 13-10, and he returned with two touch points and an all out to give Iran a 14-13 lead. Iran held on to that lead to go up 18-17 at halftime. That's when India started to do what Iran was doing better. For most of the tournament, India had been struggling with inconsistent defending. They found the perfect moment to fix those errors. Staunch defending from the Indians helped them regain the lead and the raiders started to find their momentum as well with Iran under pressure. The cracks started to show in the Iran defence with errors of judgement creeping in and touch points were being presented on a platter for the Indian raiders as the match reached its latter stages. On paper, this was a comfortable six-point win for India. But they will know they had to do it the hard way. In many ways, the match between the Indian and Iranian women's teams didn't just have gold at stake, there was also bragging rights available in a sport where it has been just two teams that have really been pushing each other to greater heights. They competed just like that on Saturday, in a topsy-turvy final encounter that was gripping throughout. At one stage India led 21-12. Nikita, Pooja and Sanju Devi remained effective in attack as India picked up a solid lead and looked poised to run away with the match. But Iran, perhaps armed with more knowledge about the Indian team from their group stage match earlier this week (India won the match 37-23) changed tactics. They shifted their emphasis to defence and kept high numbers at the back to throw in tackles on the Indian raiders. The strategy worked. So much so that when Iran had removed five of India's seven from the mat, Atena Madadi went in to get touch points on the remaining two players to inflict an all out on India. Suddenly, India only led 27-26. That was perhaps the cue for the Indians to employ a new strategy of their own - patience. They slowed down the pace of the game, extending the length of their raids while not throwing in early tackles. Meanwhile, an urgency rang through the Iranian line, and with it, errors came. This was a narrow win for India, closer perhaps than they would have hoped for....