Kabaddi Masters Dubai 2018: Full list of all squads

With only 6 days to go for the exciting 6-nation Kabaddi Masters Dubai 2018, all the countries released their squads for the tournament on June 16. World Champions India will take this opportunity as a much-needed preparation for the continental extravaganza - 2018 Jakarta Asian Games - where this contingent will be one of the top contenders.

The tournament conducted by International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) will also feature other Asian giants like Iran, Republic of Korea, and Pakistan. The two non-Asian nations joining in this nine-day tournament are Argentina and Kenya.

India are clubbed with fierce-neighbours Pakistan and newcomer Kenya in group A, while group B features Iran, Republic of Korea, and Argentina. The top two teams from each group will then battle it out in the semis after the double round-robin matches within the group. While India are obvious favourites going into the tournament, teams like Iran, Republic of Korea, and Kenya will leave no stones unturned to upset the Champions.

However, India boasts of the strongest attack line at their helm, which consists of top raiders like Deepak Niwas Hooda, Pardeep Narwal, Monu Goyat, and the poster-boy Rahul Chaudhari. The defensive duo of Surender Nada and Girish Ernak bring the perfect balance to the squad that Ajay Thakur - the captain - would have wanted.

As the squads for the tournament were released, Iran sprang up few surprises by omitting Fazel Atrachali (U Mumba) and Abozar Mighani (Telugu Titans). The two were sold for Rs. 1 crore and Rs. 76 lakh, respectively, in the recently concluded Pro Kabaddi League auctions. In spite of being touted as the key man to watch out for, Meraj Sheiykh, has also failed to make the cut for Iran. Apart from the Indian and Iranian stalwarts all eyes will be on Jang Kung Lee of Korea Republic and the immensely talented David Mosambayi of Kenya.

Following are the respective squads:

India : Girish Maruti Ernak, Surender Nada, Sandeep, Mohit Chhillar, Raju Lal Choudhary,Surjeet (Po), Deepak, Pardeep Narwal, Rahul Chaudhari, Rishank Krishna Devadiga, Monu Goyat, Rohit Kumar, Ajay Thakur, Manjeet Chhillar

Republic of Korea : Lee Dong Geon, Eom Tae Deok, Lee Jae Min, Lee Jang Kun, Hong Dong Ju, Kim Dong Gyu, Park Chan Sik, Jo Jae Pil, Kim Seong Ryeol, Park Hyun Il,Kim Gyung Tae, Ko Young Chang

Pakistan : Nasir Ali, Waqar Ali, Mudassar Ali, Qaisir Abbas, Kashif Razzaq, Muhammad Nadeem, Sajjad Shaukat, Muhammad Imran, Muhammad Safian, Abid Hussain, Akhlaq Hussain, Wasim Sajjad, Muhammad Nisar, Muzammal Hussain.

Iran : Hadi Tajik, Mohammad Amin Nosrati, Amirhossein Mohammad Maleki, Mohammad Esmaeil Nabibakhsh, Mohammad Ghorbani, Mohammad Esmaeil Maghsoudlou Mahalli, Mohammad Kazem Naseri, Mohammadreza Shadloui Chianeh, Emad Sedaghatnia, Afshin Jafari, Mohammad Taghi Paein Mahali,Mohammad Malak,Saeid Ghaffari, Hamid Mirzaei Nader

Argentina: Federico Gramajo, Rafael Acevedo, Gabriel Sacchi, Mariano Pascual, Jorge Barraza, Sebastian Desocio, Roman Cesaro, Nahuel Lopez, Javier Camera, Ivan Molina, Franco Castro, Matias Martinez, Sebastian Canencia, Nahuel Villamayor

Kenya : David Mosambayi, Ogak Odhiambo, Chrispine Otieno, Obiero Victor, Obilo James, Erick Ocheing Oduor, Nicholas Mutua, Embuga George, Elphas Otieno, James Kamweti, Patrick NzauIzaac Njoroge, Esau Otieno, Kevin Wire

All the matches would be held at the Al Wasl Sports Club in Dubai and will be telecasted, live at 8.p.m. IST on the Star Sports Network: SS2, SS2 HD, SS1 Hindi, SS1 Hindi HD, SS1 Tamil.