Iran’s kabaddi team arrives for practice games

KARACHI: Iran’s men kabaddi team arrived in Islamabad on Sunday to play practice matches against Pakistan, a top official of Pakistan Kabaddi Federation (PKF) told ‘The News’ from Islamabad.

“We are trying to arrange five to six practice matches between the visitors and Pakistan,” the PKF secretary Mohammad Sarwar said.

He said Iran would stay in Pakistan till January 30. “The practice matches with the visitors will help us prepare a good team for the South Asian Games,” said Sarwar, also Asian Kabaddi Federation (AKF) secretary.

The PKF will unveil the details of the series at a press conference in the federal capital on Monday (today).

The PKF had recently sent national women team to Iran for a five-match series in the Asian style. “It was an eight-day tour during which our women team played five matches. They lost three and won two,” the official said.

This will be the first time that Pakistan women team will be participating in the South Asian Games, which are to be held in Guwahati and Shillong, cities of India, from February 5-16.

The kabaddi event will be conducted in Guwahati from February 9-14.

The PKF has selected only two women players from the pool who represented Pakistan in the previous two World Cups hosted by India.

“The World Cups were played in circle style and there was no restriction of weight. The South Asian Games will be played in Asian style and the maximum weight limit for a player is 70 kilogramme. We just picked two players from the squads that featured in women World Cups. Of the two one is playing while the other is injured,” Sarwar explained.

He said that Pakistan’s men and women teams for the South Asian Games would comprise 12 members each. They would be accompanied by three officials each.

Sarwar said that in both the events the teams would play on round robin league basis with the top two outfits qualifying for the finals.

When asked about Pakistan’s men team chances, Sarwar said that he expected a fine show. “We have a good side and I hope it will live up to the expectations,” he said.  Pakistan claimed silver medal in the previous Games.