Ludhiana, Nov 20: Hosts India defeated Canada 59-25 in the final to lift the World Cup in men's Kabaddi at the Guru Nanak Stadium. Indians maintained their dominance right from the start and were leading 28-13 by half-time over Canadians, who had lost a few players earlier to doping.

Canadians, who had defeated Pakistan in the semi-finals in the tournament earlier, struggled to maintain momentum in the second half as Indian raiders took points at will. With the win tonight, Indians pursed Rs 2 crore while the runners-up pocketed Rs 1 crore. Despite the match played under flood lights and continuing close to midnight, the stadium remained packed with people who had come to watch the contest.

The tournament had been marred by doping controversy which had continued unabated in the Punjab Government-organised Cup, with players from United States, Canada, India and other nations falling in the dope trap.

National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) had even demanded adequate security for its officials conducting dope tests to avoid any untoward incident. Australia and USA teams were disqualified as most of their players were found dope positive by NADA. In the women's final played here earlier, India thrashed UK 44-17 as the visitors failed to tackle the dominant Indian attacks.

Earlier, a scintillating closing ceremony of the Kabaddi Cup brought to an end the 20 day long sports extravaganza in which 14 countries for men section and 4 countries in women section vied for a total Rs 4.11 crore prize money.

PTI