Super Kabaddi League to have players from around the world

KARACHI: The Super Kabaddi League (SKL), which Strawberry Sports Management is going to hold from April 22 to May 6 in Lahore, is expected to carry players from at least six countries.

“The event is expected to carry players from at least six nations,” Strawberry Sports Management chief Haider Daud Khan told ‘The News’ on Monday.“There will be players from Asia, Middle East, Central Asia and Africa, and we are also negotiating with players from the United States and Canada,” the official said.

He made it clear that there would be no Indian player in the event which is being held for the first time.He said that the five franchises of Lahore, Multan, Gujrat, Islamabad and Sialkot have already been finalised, adding efforts would be made to take the number to eight before launching the competitions.

“We are trying to increase the numbers and complete details of the franchises and the actual names they adopt would be disclosed later,” Haider said.He said players who are included in the draft will be divided into three categories.

“We will try to ensure that each and every franchise has a minimum of one foreign player in its ranks,” he said.Haider also plans to hold Classic Football League (CFL) in August in Karachi and the first professional volleyball league at the end of this year.

He was quite confident that he would succeed in his mission. “There is a great following of these sports in Pakistan and we will try to take an impressive start, and then efforts would be made to bring further improvement as the time progresses,” he said.

The SKL was scheduled to begin early last year but delayed due to various reasons.The 15-day SKL which is expected to pull huge crowds will be telecast live.“SKL will be a reintroduction of the sport of kabaddi. With SKL one can hope that kabaddi will be restored to its long-lost glory – for it’s all about owning and celebrating our heritage,” the company said in a message.