On December 6, Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal stated today that if the Akali-BSP alliance is elected into power, kabaddi will be revived at the state, national, and international levels by reviving the World Kabaddi Cup and organizing two new tournaments.
He said the Akali administration will host two new events — the Punjab Kabaddi Cup and the Kabaddi League — while interacting with kabaddi players and leaders from other organizations.
Sukhbir slammed the Congress administration for scrapping the Akali regime’s project, saying he will relaunch the World Kabaddi Cup. In the presence of Punjab Kabaddi Association president Sikander Singh Maluka, Sukhbir remarked,
“We have prepared a three-pronged plan.”
He and his government shall create a Punjab cup, in which the teams will be from all districts of the state. They will compete for a prize pool of Rs 1 crore.
He also said that he will help to promote the sport to the national level. A league will be established, modelled after the cricket league. The prize pool for that league will be Rs 2 crore. He stated that the world cup will be worth Rs 5 crore in prize money. Sukhbir also promised to build stadiums for kabaddi matches.
Kabaddi has a long and illustrious history in India. Although there is no strong proof, the game is usually thought to have originated in India some 40 centuries ago. The goal of this sport back then was to serve as a kind of self-defense and to improve the physical fitness of the participants.
Especially popular among the rural population in India, Kabaddi is the state sport of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, and Karnataka. However, kabaddi hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves in India, where cricket is the number one sport discipline. Even though India has won every Kabaddi World Cup trophy to date in both the men’s and women’s categories, this is the case.
The athletes give their all to win the most prestigious tournaments only to be rewarded with a little corner column in the sports section of the most prestigious publications. The sports channels cannot risk compromising their TRPs by airing a half-hour kabaddi broadcast. These athletes lack the enticing X-factor that advertising companies seek.
If the SAD President can keep his word and do the good to promote kabaddi, then the players will be more stable both physically and financially. This will potentially boost the urge to practice more and do good in all the tournaments internationally and domestically.
