Hopeful of a final appearance

The KL players warming up during their training stint in New Delhi


Hosts Kuala Lumpur are banking on their SUKMA gold medal winning players to steer the team to the finals of the men’s competition at the inaugural International Inter City Kabaddi Championships at the Police Depot from Dec 26-28.

The KL squad, coached by former national captain R. Balamurugan will however face the going tough against India’s New Delhi and also Sri Lanka’s Colombo.

The experienced Delhi side are expected to start as the favourites for the tournament. Colombo, with five national players, would also be a big threat.

Colombo will feature the likes of KPT Thushara, KS Meegastanne, ALM Niswan, EAUK Alwis and KAP Nishantha, who have all played for Sri Lanka at the Asian Games as well as the South Asian Games.

Compared to both Delhi and Colombo, Kuala Lumpur would field a relatively young side with an average age of 23.

Kuala Lumpur will have the likes of M. Paramasiven, who played at the Busan Asian Games.

The team would also feature former national juniors P. Vimal and K. Saravanan.

Another experienced youngster – K. Siva – will skipper the squad.

Srinagar are also expected to be strong contenders in the men’s competition.

Kuala Lumpur have just returned from a training stint in New Delhi in preparation for the tournament.

During the training stint in New Delhi, the team was also invited to play in a tournament and finished second to an Indian team.

In the women’s competition, Colombo are expected to start off as the favourites.

Their women's side will feature three players, who had helped Sri Lanka to the silver at the last South Asian Games - UMNWPJM Rathnayake, MMNTK Bandara and SPN Dilhani.

Colombo’s strongest challenge is expected to come from India’s Srinagar.

Eepro, Milo and 100 Plus are among the sponsors of the tournament, also supported by the Federal Territory Sports Council.