Participation of Indian, Iranian teams good omen: Aleem

Pak Greens down India to clinch Int’l Kabaddi Taakra title

Our correspondent

LAHORE: Pakistan Green kabaddi team defeated India by 40-29 to clinch the title of International Kabaddi Taakra at Punjab Stadium on Sunday. The third place went to Pakistan White team which toppled Iran by a margin of 31-24.

Musharraf Janjua and Jaabar Kamboh were adjudged best stopper and raider of main final match respectively. In the 3rd/4th place clash, the honours of best stopper and raider were grabbed by Nafees Gujjar and Irfan Mana respectively. Rs 16 lakh cash prizes were given to participating teams.

Senior Punjab Minster Aleem Khan, Punjab Sports Minister Rai Taimoor Khan Bhatti, Minister of Punjab for Industries, Commerce and Investment Mian Aslam Iqbal, PKF President Shafay Hussain, Secretary Sports Punjab Nadeem Mehboob, Director General Sports Punjab Nadeem Sarwar and DG Iran Consulate Ali Akbar Rezai were the guests of honour on the final day.

Punjab Sports Minister Rai Taimoor Khan Bhatti, PKF President Shafay Hussain and Director General Sports Punjab Nadeem Sarwar also distributed prizes among the leading performers of the tournament. They were also introduced with the players of all teams.

POA General Secretary Khalid Mehmood, PKF Rana Sarwar, Director Sports Hafeez Bhatti, PBF General Secretary Wajid Ali Ch, Deputy Directors Tariq Wattoo, Shahid Nizami, Tournament Director Shahid Faqeer Virk, Guinness World Record Holder M Muneer, folk singer Akram Rahi and a large number of kabaddi enthusiasts were also present in the stadium.

Senior Punjab Minster Aleem Khan, on this occasion, said the participation of Indian and Iranian kabaddi teams is good omen for the future of sports in Pakistan. He appreciated the performance of all participating teams. “The way Pakistan team displayed handsome performance in the event, it looks the future of kabaddi is bright in Pakistan”.

Punjab Sports Minister Rai Taimoor Khan Bhatti said Punjab govt will do maximum efforts for the promotion of sports particularly kabaddi in the province. “We will hold more such international sports events in future”. Director General Sports Punjab Nadeem Sarwar thanked the guest teams, honourable guests and kabaddi lovers at the prize distribution ceremony for showing great passion of the game.

Pakistan Greens team showed great kabaddi skills and dominated the proceedings right from the beginning. Pakistan Green players Musharraf Janjua, Jaabar Kamboh, Shafiq Chishti, Khalid Bhatti demonstrated excellent performances in both raiding and stopping departments of game. At the half time, Pakistan Green were leading by 23-15 points.

Indian players also exhibited wonderful performance but they could not score enough points to win the game. Indian skipper Partap Singh and his players Harjeet Singh, Sandeep Singh, Kuldeep Singh, Naresh and Mikki showed good form for their team. Thousands of kabaddi fans were there in the stadium to cheer the participating teams. Traditional dances of all four provinces were also presented on this occasion.