Iran to host Junior Kabaddi World Cup

KARACHI: Junior Kabaddi World Cup is expected to be held in Iran later this summer, a senior official of Pakistan Kabaddi Federation (PKF) revealed on Wednesday.

“Yes, Junior Kabaddi World Cup is proposed to be held in Iran in September. It will be the first time that such an event will be held in which under-19 players would feature,” PKF secretary M Sarwar told ‘The News’ here on Wednesday. Sarwar on Wednesday flew out from here for Chinese Taipei to attend a meeting of the International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) on May 14.

“In the meeting Junior World Cup (Asian style), activities calendar for the year 2019 and some discussion on new rules and other topics will be held,” said Sarwar, also the IKF vice-president. Sarwar said that holding events like Junior World Cup was important.

“It will help nations to build their nurseries which will in turn strengthen their kabaddi future,” said Sarwar, who led Pakistan kabaddi team from 1989 to 2004. In order to form a strong team for World Cup PKF plans to hold Inter-Provincial Under-19 Championship and National Under-19 Kabaddi Championship after Ramadan.

“We will soon hold such events after Eid-ul-Fitr to form a good team for World Cup,” the official said. He said that the PKF would be working on two teams, adding, juniors would be preparing for the global event and the seniors would be making ready for the 13th South Asian Games. “We have requested the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and hopefully we would get camps for both the assignments,” Sarwar said.

He agreed that Pakistan would have to make full-fledged effort to revitalise the sport as several other nations have improved a lot in the sector.“Yes Iran and South Korea have improved a lot. Definitely the nations who work harder get improved. We have already picked 30 juniors after extensive trials and I hope they are capable to become future stars. The Under-19 World Cup will also help us find such players who could be used in the 2022 Asian Games,” Sarwar said. Iran and South Korea created a stir last year in the Asian Games in Indonesia when they blasted their way into the continent’s biggest kabaddi event final. However Iran became the only other team after India in Asian Games kabaddi history which lifted the title when they beat South Korea in the decider.

Pakistan claimed fifth bronze in the event. India, who won seven Asiad titles on the trot since kabaddi’s inception in the 1999 Beijing Games, finished at the poorest fourth spot. Pakistan twice remained as runners-up in the Asian Games in 1994 and 1998.

In South Asian Games India lead with nine gold medals while Pakistan have got just one in 1993. Pakistan got six silver while Bangladesh picked three and India one. Pakistan claimed three bronze in SAG.

However Sarwar was quick to add that they would need a much better nutrition policy for boys as strength was the key in kabaddi.Sarwar said that the pro league (SKL) would also be held in August-September.

“The league got delayed because some of the players had gone to England and Canada for professional leagues. Hopefully our own league will be held in August-September,” the official said. The Super Kabaddi League (SKL) was launched last year in Lahore in which a bunch of foreign players were also seen in action. Strawberry Sports Management owns and PKF provides technical collaboration.