Mamatha admitted the fact that the Indian team was under pressure because of the close encounter with Iran in the Asian Games. “But we were confident of winning the final with a handsome margin. It is our game and we will always try to keep the tricolour flying in kabaddi,” an elated Mamatha said after the match. “I am extremely honoured to lead the country for the World Cup. It’s every sportsperson’s dream to represent their country at a global stage. I’m proud of my team and we will all work towards bringing honour to India,” said captain Anup Kumar. Hosted in Mumbai, the tournament saw 12 teams competing, including Japan, Iran, Bangladesh, United Kingdom and South Korea. The second one, held in Panvel in 2007, saw the involvement of 16 teams — the highest number of participants till date. The first-timers included West Indies, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, among others.
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Matches took place between April and May across the UK, in major cities including Wolverhampton and Birmingham. The match started at a fast pace with attacks and counter-attacks from both sides. Iran, who had lost the semifinals to India by just one point in extra time at the Guangzhou Asian Games, put their best foot forward but failed to match the strategy of Indian team. Following the international format of the game being recognized by the International Kabaddi Federation, two teams of seven members each are allowed to participate.
Did you know – the previous two editions of the Kabaddi World Cup also took place in India? With the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup kicking off in Ahmedabad on October 7, here are five interesting things to know about the competition. AKFI controls standard-style kabaddi in India, and their officials call the shots in world kabaddi. The circle-style World Cup still gets participation from teams around the world, and these are not teams with expatriate Indians and Pakistanis alone representing them.
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- In a fortnight-long tournament, the 12 teams have been divided into two pools of six and will play in a round-robin league format where each team has to face the other teams of their pool once.
- “We have two years now to take the learnings from the 2022 Commonwealth Games to ensure we can achieve maximum impact from hosting this prestigious global event,” he concluded.
- Recently, Pakistan has defeated India at the six-nation Kabaddi Cup in May and in last month’s Asian Beach Games in Vietnam.
- It depends — if you are a fan of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), then the circle-style format may not interest you much.
- India, having won the previous two World Cups, have remained unbeaten so far.
- A good raid might get a patron to gift you a tractor, which would be over and above prize money.
Punjab Kabaddi Association (PKA) has kicked off a controversy by sending nearly 60 Kabaddi Players to Pakistan to take part in Pakistan’s first Kabaddi World Cup 2020 tournament. International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) chief Deoraj Chaturvedi confirmed the news saying, “This is not the right time to engage with Pakistan,” Chaturvedi told AFP.” Due to the exclusion of Pakistan, the traditional South Asian sport has dealt a major blow as Kabaddi is very popular in the country.
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The week-long mission will create opportunities for bilateral trade and investment between India, the West Midlands and wider UK. Pakistan kabaddi federation secretary Rana Muhammad Sarwar said, “We have called a meeting to discuss this issue but let me tell you that a kabaddi matches Kabaddi World Cup is no world cup without Pakistan,” as quoted by AFP. Ahead of the operation, DIG M N Anucheth chaired a closed‑door meeting at the SIT office in Belthangady to finalise the strategy.
The Indian team includes several stars from the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) and will be captained by Anup Kumar. Interestingly these Kabaddi players and Punjab Kabaddi Association office-bearers did not seek any permission from the Indian authorities to take part in the Kabaddi tournament. The World Cup will provide a further opportunity to build business and trade links between the West Midlands, UK and India, complementing WMGC’s work with the award-winning West Midlands India Partnership. Plans for the tournament include a Business and Trade event, showcasing the best of Indian businesses in the West Midlands.
Every team is allowed three players for substitution, with the permission of a referee. India won a close final 45-42, with a couple of close TV umpire calls going against Pakistan in the closing stages. Moreover, Pakistan captain and raider Shafiq Chishti, who was interviewed immediately afterwards, alleged misbehaviour by some of the officials, including a claim that his team had been refused water. He solemnly swore he would never return to play in India, and Pakistan stayed away from the 2016 edition in Punjab. For Punjabis, there’s a special emotional connect at play too — the Sikh gurus were said to be great proponents of keeping their troops fit by playing kabaddi on a regular basis.