‘Kabaddi-playing nations must get together’

KARACHI: Brushing aside the comments of the Indian sports minister Vijay Goel that Pakistan’s players were not welcome in India’s Kabaddi League as insignificant, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Strawberry Sports Management, owners of Pakistan’s Super Kabaddi League (SKL), Haider Ali Daud Khan has said that players should be respected.

“Sportsmen deserve respect and should not be left at the mercy of petty politics. Pakistan enjoys a commanding position in kabaddi globally. We defeated India at the Asian Beach Games finals last year at Vietnam. World Cup was held last year in India without Pakistan participating. That is the news that demands attention,” Haider said in a statement.

“Such actions reflect deep insecurity on the part of India. They are also the manifestations of the void in international governance on Kabaddi,” he said.

He said it would be better if Kabaddi playing nations got together and rally for progressive international regulation of the game. “This will go a long way in establishing the legitimacy of the various multilateral events and World Cup is no exception,” he said.

About the SKL, he said it had been planned this year. “It promises the best national and international players in action,” he said. “SKL is city/region based franchise model where players would be selected through drafting,” he said.  He added that Pakistan Kabaddi Federation (PKF) was their exclusive technical collaborator.