Pak, India kabaddi teams to play international at Kartarpur

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and India kabaddi teams will be playing an international within the Kartarpur Corridor in March 2022, weeks before the start of the four-nation international Kabaddi Tournament to be held in Lahore in April.

Rana Mohammad Sarwar, secretary Pakistan Kabaddi Federation (PKF), broke the story to ‘The News’ confirming that both the countries are set to figure in one-off international with the Kartarpur Corridor in March.

“We are set to make history as both Pakistan and India have agreed to play the international match within the Kartarpur Corridor. Both the federations have agreed that the teams would travel from either side of the border to play international friendly. Both the teams would return back to their respective countries at the end of the match.”

When asked about the date of the friendly game, Rana Sarwar said that negotiations were on to finalise an exact date.

“Hopefully, the international match will be organised near the end of March. Since we are to host a four-nation international in Lahore in April 2022 so we want to stage the friendly in March, just weeks before that international event. Apart from Pakistan and India, Canada and Iran have also confirmed their participation in the four-nation event. These four countries have the best teams in the world and are expected to offer quality kabaddi to the fans. All the participating teams are eagerly looking forward to the event,” the PKF secretary said.

He admitted that kabaddi has been the worst-hit sports during the Covid-19 outbreak. “Since it is the contact sport, the things had been really tough for kabaddi. We struggled to organise the camps, local and international events, but now things have opened up and we are ready to get back into a full groove. The international against India and four-nation tournament will set the international kabaddi rolling.”

On the domestic front, Rana Sarwar said that the PKF has finalised plans to host the 42nd National Kabaddi Championship. “We are also planning to generate local kabaddi events in a big way. To start with, we are planning to host the 42nd edition of the National Kabaddi Championship in Lahore starting from the last week of December. The championship will see 12 teams competing while handsome prizes will be given to the top performers. The event will also serve as the selection trials for the camp training. The best of the lot will then represent Pakistan in the four-nation kabaddi to be held in Lahore.”

Rana Sarwar hoped that the next year would be vital for international kabaddi. “Hopefully by the year-end, we would be in a position to start organising national and international events at will.”