DENIED!

Kuala Lumpur kabaddi team, the red hot favourites - were denied the chance to play at the National Traditional Games Carnival by clever manipulation of the Kabaddi Association of Malaysia officials.

Appended herewith is the chronology of the events leading to the KL teams being denied the right to play at the carnival.

23th July 2009
Neither the Federal Territory Sports Department nor the Kabaddi Association of Kuala Lumpur (KAKL) were given the schedule and the tournament rules for the kabaddi event. It is pertinent to note that the Kabaddi Association of Malaysia (KAM) took over the technical running of the event just over a week before the event. Kabaddi was included at the carnival through the efforts of the KAKL.
The Technical Head for the Carnival was informed that the KL kabaddi team would arrive in Ipoh after 8.00pm on 24th July 2009.

24th July 2009
The KL kabaddi team left from Puchong at 5.00pm and went on to pick up more players enroute to Ipoh.
At 5.30pm officials from the FT Sports Department called the KAKL president informing him that they were just told that there was a weight check for players going on at 6.00pm.
As we were not informed earlier of this, the FT Sports Department informed the KAM Technical Committee of the same and were told that they would wait for the KL team to arrive for the weight check later that night.
The Technical Head of the Carnival was also informed of the late arrival and he too had informed the KAM Technical Committee, getting similar answers.
At approximately, the bus the KL team was travelling broke down and the information was relayed to both the FT Sports Department as well as the Technical Head of the Carnival.
Both the FT Sports Department and the Technical Head informed the KAM Technical Committte of the delay and were told by the KAM Technical Committee that it was not a problem.
KL Officials were informed by the FT Sports Department as well as the Technical Head of the Carnival that the KAM Technical Committee had already indicated that it was not a problem and they would wait.
At approximately 9.30pm, the KAM Technical Committee despite their early assurance ot the FT Sports Department as well as the Technical Head of the Carnival decided to propose that the KL team to be kicked out of the competition at the managers meeting.
The proposal was made after the FT Sports Department Head had left the meeting area and after being informed that the delay was not an issue.
No attempt was made by the KAM Technical Committee to contact the FT Sports Department nor the team manager of the KL Kabaddi team when the decision was made.
Information of the decision was relayed to the KAKL officials by one of the team managers who attended the meeting.
Upon receiving the information, the matter was quickly relayed to the FT Sports Department by the KAKL officials. Th FT Sports Department quickly contacted the KAM Technical Committte but they refused to change the decision. The matter was than relayed to the Assistant Director of the Sports Ministry in charge of the Carnival.
Her intervention was only met by quick rebuff from the KAM Technical Committee.
The KL team arrived at the venue after repairs to the bus at approximately at 10.10pm and were informed by the FT Sports Department of the sly manner by which the KAM Technical conspired to stop the KL team from taking part at the event.
After discussion with the FT Sports Department, the kabaddi team decided not to make any protest with the event organisers.
The FT Sports Department officials had informed us that it was evident from the onset that the KAM was totally against the KL team and were looking for excuses after excuses to stop the team and that the decision at the managers meeting was clever manipulated.

25th July 2009
The KL team members than went for diner at midnight and checked into the hotel at 1.30am. The team were back at the venue at 7.30am in the morning and displayed upmost sportsmanship by mingling around with members of the various other sports contingents.
After further discussion with various officials of the Sports Ministry, the team left for KL at 12.30pm.

Despite the high and mighty way the KAM Technical Committee conducted themselves, the running of the event by the KAM was but mediocre.

1. The weight check was to have started at 6.00pm but did not take place until 7.00pm.
2. While the event was changed from Open age and weight category to Under-23 by the KAM just over a week before the tournament, the rule was hardly enforced by the KAM Technical Committee. Teams like Sarawak and Perak all played with at least one over weight player.
3. No assistant scorers were used.
4. While there were whiteboards available on both courts, no scoreboard assistants were used to indicate ongoing results.
5. No effort was made by the Technical Committee to update finished results in the main Results Board. All other sports were updating these results as soon as any matches ended with the exception of kabaddi.

The KAKL would like to extend a BIG CONGRATULATIONS AND HURRAY to the KAM for their great effort in promoting the game to other communities as well as encouraging youngsters to play the game through the excellent and professional way of handling the National Sports Carnival kabaddi event.