Segar claims the City

Segar stunned fancied Sri Devi Princess enroute to winning the women's title at the City Day Kabaddi Championships at Dataran Merdeka.

Segar won the title after finishing unbeaten in the round robin competition.

The 64-42 defeat of the Princess, was sweet revenge for Segar, having lost to the same side in the top of the table clash in the Premier League Kabaddi earlier this month.

The Princess started off strongly in the early stages of their match against Segar, but their game collapsed following the exit of their star raider Vishaleeny.

Vishaleeny limped out of the game with a knee injury with he side holding a good lead in the first half. Followng her exit, Segar played with more urgency to whittle down the deficit and romp home comfortable winners.

Princess finished second after they defeated Sri Manjari 43-33. Manjari also lost to Segar 53-57 in another group match.

The men's title went to favourites Sri Devi Dragons. The Dragons blew away Kg Pandan Lions 34-20 for their first title of the year.

The Lions started confidently in the final and even held a four point lead in the early stages of the game. But a defensive error at that stage saw the Dragons eclipse the deficit.

Once the four point deficit was erased, the Dragons played with more urgency to defend the title they won last year.

The Indian expatriate team of Pasum Ponn finished third.

The City Day Kabaddi championships was held with the assistance of the Kuala Lumpur City Hall.

More pictures from the tournament are available here.

Group of Death

Favourites Sri Devi Dragons will have the going tough in Group A of the City Day kabaddi championships at the Dataran Merdeka on Sunday.

The Dragons have been drawn in the same group as a much improved Kg Pandan Lions and the Indian expatriate team of Pasum Ponn A in what could be termed as a group of death.

The biggest threat for the Dragons would be the Lions, who have gone strength to strength in recent months.

Selayang are favoured to qualify from Group B but they too will have a fight in their hands against the Sri Devi Tigers.

Pasum Ponn A and Malaysia Nanban are expected to fight it out for top place in Group C.

The two best second placed team from the two group will take on each other in a playoff for a berth in the semi-finals.

In the women's competition, newly crowned Kuala Lumpur Premier League Kabaddi champions Sri Devi Princess will have to be top form if tehy harbour hopes of winning the title.

They will have to contend with the dangerous Sri Manjari and Segar for the title.

All matches will start at 8.30 am. Teams are expected to report for the competition by 7.30am.

Local television station TV3 would be doing a live crossover of the event between 7 and 7.30 am.

Apart from kabaddi, competitions for Silambam, paintball, chinese checkers would also be held at the Dataran Merdeka.

The Kabaddi Association of Kuala Lumpur would also be staging a special demonstration match at the Dataran Merdeka on February 1 at 2.00pm.


GROUPINGS AND DRAW

MEN
GROUP A: Sri Devi Dragons, Pasum Ponn B, Kg Pandan Lions
Group B: Selayang, Sri Devi Tigers, Segar
Group C: Pasum Ponn A, Kg Pandan Tigers, Malaysia Nanban

WOMEN
GROUP X: Sri Devi Princess, Segar, Sri Manjari


SCHEDULE
7.30am: Live crossover by Selamat Pagi Malaysia on TV3
8.30am: SD Dragon vs Pasum Ponn B
8.30am: Selayang vs SD Tigers
9.00am: Pasum Ponn A vs KP Tigers
9.00am: SD Princess vs Sri Manjari
10.00am: Pasum Ponn B vs KP Lions
10.00am: SD Tigers vs Segar
10.30am: KP Tigers vs Malaysia Nanban
10.30am: Segar vs Sri Manjari
11.30am: SD Dragons vs KP Lions
11.30am: Selayang vs Segar
12.00noon: Pasum Ponn A vs Malaysia Nanban
12.00noon: SD Princess vs Sri Manjari
1.00pm: Best Second Place vs 2nd Best Second Place`
2.00pm: Winner A vs Winner B
2.00pm: Winner C vs Playoff winner
3.00pm: Final
3.45pm Prize Giving

Ishwar to lend golden touch

Former national coach Dr Ishwar Angadi is being sought by the Kabaddi Association of Kuala Lumpur (KAKL) to fine tune the Federal Territory SUKMA kabaddi team.

With winning both the gold medals at stake firmly in mind, KAKL hopes that Dr Ishwar's expertise would give the side the golden edge.

KAKL president S.T. Arasu said that he had already discussed the matter with Dr Ishwar.

"Ishwar is more than happy to assist the team. However, there is still the matter of getting the necessary paperwork to be done," said Arasu.

Dr Ishwar is attached with the Sports Authority of India (SAI). He coached the Malaysian side to the Busan Asian Games as well as the Asian Championships in 2003.

He is a close personal friend of the KAKL president. Arasu was the team manager to the Busan Asian Games and was personally responsible in hiring Dr Ishwar to coach in Malaysia.

Both of them were also responsible in rewriting the kabaddi rules, currently being used at the world level. The duo also worked hand-in-hand to come out with the Level One Coaching Manual.

"I will discuss the matter further with the SAI regional director Mr Ranawat. The director has always been helpful in the past and I do not see any major problems in getting Ishwar released from his duties to coach the SUKMA team," said Arasu.

If everything goes as planned, Ishwar would arrive here in mid May to handle the team.

The states chief coach R. Balamurugan has worked before with Dr Ishwar, both as a player and as an assistant coach.

"We believe that Ishwar's presence here would be a great boost to the state team. The players would certainly gain a lot from him," said Arasu.

He added, although Dr Ishwar's release may take a month or so to cement, his name has been submitted to the Majlis Sukan Wilayah Persekutuan to be registered as a coach of the team.

Delhi first to officially confirm

The Delhi team is the first to officially confirm their participation at this year's International Inter City Kabaddi Championships at the Stadium Titiwangsa from March 5-7.

While many teams have indicated verbally of their intentions to take part, the New Delhi team is the first to send in their entry before the closing date on February 1.

New Delhi, which fielded only the men team at the inaugural championships, will field both the men and women team this time.

New Delhi team manager Hansraj Singh said that the team was looking forward to play at the tournament.

"We are all excited about coming to play in Kuala Lumpur," he said.

The Delhi team failed to shine in 2008, finishing last in the competition. But they are expected to come with a much stronger team for this years championships.

The KAKL expects the rest of the teams to submit their official entries before the end of January.

For the men's competition, KAKL also expects teams from Chennai, Patialla, Katmandu, Faridabad, Amristar, Oslo, Taipei, Colombo and Kashmir. We are expected to field teams from Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya and at least one other local team.

For the women's competition, teams expected to play apart from New Delhi are Patialla, Faridabad, Oslo, Colombo as well as Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

The championships is being held with the support from the Kuala Lumpur City Hall, the Federal Territory Sports Council and the Sports Ministries Federal Territory Department.

Deputy Foreign Minister YB Senator Tuan Kohilan Pillay is the patron of the event.

OCM Congress

Officials from the Kabaddi Association of Kuala Lumpur were among many who attended the Olympic Council of Malaysia Conference today.

The conference was to discuss the strategic planning of the OCM from 2011-2016.

KAKL's president S.T. Arasu, deputy president L. Anbarasu and member S. Ganeson represented the KAKL at the conference.

The Kabaddi Association of Malaysia were among the national sports associations that failed to send any representative to the conference.

SUKMA preparations

Sukma team managers, L. Anbarasu (men) and Mogan Kumar Raju (women) are attending the Federal Territory Sukma team managers meeting with the director of the Majlis Sukan Wilayah Persekutuan (MSWP) today in Putrajaya.

The meeting has been called with the team managers of all sports to discuss in detail the training program and also to fine tune the team preparations towards the Sukma.

The FT kabaddi Sukma coaches and managers would also attend a three day camp in Langkawi from February 6-8. With the chief coach, R. Balamurugan unable to attend the camp in Langkawi, assistant coach K. Siva will attend the camp together with the managers.

The FT Kabaddi teams are preparing well for the Sukma and are confident of winning both the titles in Melaka this June.

PRINCESS ARE NOW QUEENS

Sri Devi Princess have clinched the inaugural Premier League Kabaddi women’s title with one match in hand.

The Princess came back from behind to beat nearest rivals Segar Brights 53-50 to take an unassailable lead atop the points standings.

The Princess can afford to lose their final group match against teammates Sri Devi Angels and still walk away with the crown.

With the League title safely in hand, the Princess would be attempting to make it a grand double by winning the Kuala Lumpur Knockout Cup title as well.


Brights were unlucky to have lost the game, having at the upper hand for most of the match against the Princess.

Both teams were tied 50-50 with just over a minute remaining. However, the last Brights raider was caughtout by the alert Princess defence. The catch gave them three points and the win.

Despite, the lost, Brights would still finish second in the overall standings.

In another women’s match, Sri Manjari thrashed an out of sorts Sri Devi Princess 62-25.

In the men’s competition, Sri Devi Dragons looks poised to make it a grand double for the club after beating table toppers Selayang 53-25. It was the second defeat for Selayang to the Dragons in the league.

Selayang still stop the table on countback ahead of the Dragons, but have played two more matches.

Dragons, despite their superiority against Selayang, were made to work extra hard in their second match against Sri Devi Tigers.

The Tigers, took the game against their more experienced rivals, leading in the first half but succumbing to a close 29-33 defeat to the Dragons.

Close on the top two teams heels is Kg Pandan Lions, who still have an outside chance of taking second place.

The Lions easily beat rivals Kg Pandan Tigers 98-36 in their match.


(Issued by the Kabaddi Association of Kuala Lumpur. For further information contact R. Balamurugan at 012 217 9577 or Mogan Kumar Raju at 016 215 3312)

PICTURES FROM THE TOURNAMENT ARE AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD HERE

PLK Resumes

The Premier League Kabaddi will resume after a three month break this Sunday at the Sri Devi Kabaddi Grounds in Puchong.

The break was necessary due to various unscheduled programs and also because of the school examinations.

All teams are required to be at the grounds by 9.30am.

The Sukma and International Inter City Kabaddi Championships team training would also take place immediately after the end of the last match at 3pm.

CITY DAY KABADDI CHAMPIONSHIPS

The City Day Kabaddi Championships is here again. The Kuala Lumpur Kabaddi Association in collaboration with the Kuala Lumpur City Hall would be organising the tournament at the Dataran Merdeka on Sunday January 31, 2010.

Due to budget cuts, the prize money has been reduced. However, KAKL has also decided to reduce the entry fees to RM 30 for the men and RM 20 for the women.

Entry Forms are available here.


We have also attached here the invitation letter if any of you want to invite friends to the event.

KAKL is also assisting in the conduct of the City Day Silambam competition on the same day at the Dataran Merdeka. The Silambam competition for juniors would be held with the assistance of the MGR Silambam Club.

New appointments

Two new appointments were made in an effort to improve the management of the Kabaddi Association of Kuala Lumpur.

S. Chandran and Gunasegar Manickam have been appointed to the vacant vice president posts by the president yesterday.

Both are qualified Technical Officials and their background in the sport would be an added boost to the KAKL.

The coaches and managers for the SUKMA in Melaka were also confirmed. R. Balamurugan was appointed as the chief coach. He will be assisted by K. Siva in the men's team and A. Kavitha in the women's team.

The men's team manager is L. Anbarasu while the women's team manager is Mogan Kumar Raju.

KAKL has also submitted their team lists for the Federal Territory squad to the Majlis Sukan Wilayah Persekutuan. The final squad would only be named at a later date.

During the meeting yesterday, the Kuala Lumpur International Inter-City Kabaddi Championships organising committee was also set.

Deputy Foreign Minister YB Senator Tuan Kohilan Pillay has consented to be the patron of the event.

Former national Tehnical Committee Chairman V. Chandran is the advisor while KAKL President S.T. Arasu is the organising chairman.

The other appointments are
Secretariat: R. Balamurugan and Mogan Kumar Rajoo
Finance: R. Sivanesan
Competition/Technical: Anbarasu Letchumanan
Sponsorship: Narayanasamy
Media and Publicity: Ramanathan
Protocol: Chandran/ Mohamed Said
Security: L. Sukumaran
Accomodation/Transportation: N V Rajah
Medical: James Krishnan

The tournament is scheduled from March 5-7 at the Stadium Titiwangsa in Kuala Lumpur.

Technical and Coaching Courses

The Kabaddi Association of Kuala Lumpur is conducting the KAKL Level One Technical Officials Course and the KAKL Coaching Course from February 26-28, 2010.

Entries are now open to all those based in Federal Territory (Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan).

The entry fees for the Technical Course is RM 30 per person while for the Coaching Course the fees is RM 50 per person.

Those interested are requested to make the applications as soon as possible as seats for the courses are limited.

Download the Technical Officials Course Forms here.

Download the Coaching Course Forms here.

Last years Technical Course Level One graduates

From the archives

This is a video clip from the match between Japan and Malaysia at the Busan Asian Games, Malaysia's one and only appearance at the Games.

This match was a nailbiter with both teams tied at 0-0 after the first half and more than five minutes into the second half.

It was a tactical game by Malaysia. Japan needed to beat Malaysia to get a medal and after playing overly cautious took the risk as the time ticked down. Malaysia took the first point and that opened up the game with a desperate Japan going all out to get the points.

The match was won by Malaysia. KAKL secretary and current coach R. Balamurugan was part of the team and is seen here wearing jersey number 10.

Tough competition

Early indication are that the 2010 International Inter City Kabaddi Championships to be held at the Stadium Titiwangsa from March 4-8 would see a stronger international line-up.

The first edition of the tournament in 2008 saw a total of three foreign teams each in the mens and womens competitions.

This year, teams from New Delhi, Faridabad, Katmandu, Chennai and an European team from Norway have indicated their intention to send their teams to KL. There will also be a second team from Nepal and a Kashmirian team.

We have also received interest from Colombo as well as a team from Chinese Taipei.

We are expecting defending champions Patialla to also confirm their entry.

KAKL are expected to field teams from Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya in the tournament. We have also received a couple of positive response from a couple other Malaysian cities.

The entries closes on February 1 while entries by name must be made by February 15.

The strong response to the tournament would certainly make the second edition of the International Inter City Kabaddi Championships a kabaddi spectacle.

Meanwhile, the KL and Putrajaya teams would go into intensive training sessions from next week. A team briefing has been scheduled for tomorrow at the Padang Timur at 2.30pm.

PSP Game on kabaddi

For those of you who have a PSP, Sony have recently launched Desi Adda Games of India is completely based on the traditional games of India.

This game features among other kabaddi and gilli-danda. The reviews for the game has been favourable.

Document Downloads

We have created a new section to upload important documents for the use of our members and other kabaddi enthusiasts.

The Document Download Centre located on the right side of this blog, would be updated whenever there are relevant documents we want the members to read. All this documents are printable.

As of now, we have uploaded several documents including history and rules of kabaddi.

We hope you will all benefit from this new feature.

Players Meeting

All players interested in representing the state in Sukma as well as the International Inter City Kabaddi Championships are requested to attend a players briefing as follows:

Date: Sunday January 10, 2009
Venue: Padang Timur
Time: 2.30 pm

The briefing is for both the men's and women's squads. Attendance is compulsory for all players.

For further information please contact Mr Bala at 012 2179577 or Mr Anbarasu at 012 2180642.

The briefing would also include the details on the resumption of the Premier League Kabaddi.

Kg Pandan by a whisker

Kg Pandan Kabaddi Club defeated the Kuala Lumpur selection squad in a friendly match today.

Kg Pandan chalked up a 30-29 win over the KL selection. The match was in a series to help the KL selection squad improve on their teamwork.

Last month the team played against a Sri Devi selection squad and emerged victorius.

The match against Kg Pandan exposed some weakness in the team that the team would now work to plug.

Pictures from the match are available here.