Incheon, Oct 3: Indian women's team beat Iran 31-21 for its second successive kabaddi gold medal at the Asian Games here on Friday.

India had won the top prize in Guangzhou four years ago -- the first time women's kabaddi was introduced at the Asiad.

India didn't have it easy and were made to work hard for the win by the Iranians, their only real competition in the tournament.

A neck and neck start saw both teams defend extremely well. But the Indian defence came out on top to exact 13 outs, including two 'lona' points, that gave them a 15-11 lead after the first half.

India's supremacy started to show in the second half

Iran, in contrast, had just eight outs and three bonus points. They failed to get even a single 'lona' point.

India's supremacy started to show in the second half as they slowly started increasing the gap.

It was again the Indian defenders who stole the show and registered 14 outs and two more 'lona' points as Iran failed to make an improvement to their first half effort and had to settle for the silver.

The Indian men's team, who have dominated the Asiad winning all the previous six gold medals since kabaddi's inclusion in 1990, are in action later in the day in the gold medal match also against Iran.

IANS