Teams start arriving for Kabaddi World Cup on Friday

KARACHI: Foreign teams will start arriving in Pakistan on Friday as the country is ready to host Kabaddi World Cup (circle style), for the first time, from February 9-16.

“Yes, the foreign teams will start arriving from Friday,” Pakistan Kabaddi Federation (PKF) secretary Mohammad Sarwar told ‘The News’ on Tuesday.

As many as ten nations, including India, are featuring in the event which was earlier slated to begin in the second week of January but was rescheduled due to heavy fog in Punjab. Lahore, Faisalabad and Nankana Sahib will host the matches of what could be a superb event.

“The Indian team is coming,” Sarwar confirmed. The others in the competition are the United States, Australia, England, Iran, Canada, Kenya, Sierra Leone and Azerbaijan.

The organisers held a meeting in Lahore on Tuesday to discuss various matters about the competition which is expected to attract a huge crowd. The opening ceremony is scheduled to be held at the Punjab Stadium Lahore, a venue which is specialised for football.

“All arrangements have been completed,” said Sarwar, a former Pakistan captain. Pakistan has already hosted Asian Championships but this will be a landmark achievement when the nation will also get the honour of hosting the global meet.

Sarwar said that the event would be telecast live. The winners will take away a purse of Rs10 million and the runners-up Rs7.5 million. The third position holder will get Rs5 million. Both Pakistan and India are still considered the top nations in circle-style kabaddi.