HOSTS IN GROUP OF DEATH

Hosts Kuala Lumpur are faced in a daunting task of making it to the quarter-finals of the KL International Inter City Kabaddi Championships from March 5-7 at the Stadium Titiwangsa.

The KL side have been drawn in the same group with Chennai and Mumbai in Group D of the competition. Although the top two teams in the group qualify for the last eight, it would still be an herculean task for the local side.

At the last championships in 2008, the KL side gave a stunning performance to finish runners-up to the Indian city team from Patialla.

Enroute to the final they had beaten Sri Lanka’s Colombo and would be hoping to hit similar form in the competition this year. The KL side for the competition this year would be missing a couple of key players from 2008 but are still expected to be competitive.

In Group A, Colombo are expected to qualify for the last eight together with India’s Kaparthula. The KL Presidents XII are not expected to pose much threat to either team. The KL Presidents XII comprise of junior Under-19 players out to gain experience at the championships.

Group B comprises of New Delhi, Nepal’s Katmandu and the sole European representatives Oslo. Delhi are expected to be a much stronger side that the team that finished fourth at the last championships.

The Oslo team comprises of non-residential Indian residents and are also expected to be a strong contender.

Defending champions Patialla are in Group C with Putrajaya and India’s Vijayawada. Putrajaya are also expected to be competitive and have a fighting chance of making it through to the last eight.

In the women’s competition, Kuala Lumpur are in Group X with Oslo and Jagtpura while Group Y comprises of Putrajaya, Colombo and New Delhi.

Both the local teams are much stronger that they were two years ago and would be looking to do well at the championships.
Speaking at the Draw Ceremony, Kabaddi Association of Kuala Lumpur president S.T. Arasu said that the championships would be perhaps one of the biggest tournaments in the sport in recent years.

“The number of participating international teams far surpass any recent international competitions anywhere and you can expect some great matches,” said Arasu.

He added that the tournament would also serve as a exposure ground for the Federal Territory Sukma players.

“We are gunning for a double gold at the Sukma in Melaka in June and the high level competition here would be valuable experience for the players,” he said.



THE GROUPINGS

MEN
GROUP A: COLOMBO, KL PRESIDENTS XII, KAPURTHALA
GROUP B: NEW DELHI, KATMANDU, OSLO
GROUP C: PATTIALA, PUTRAJAYA, VIJAYAWADA
GROUP D: KUALA LUMPUR, MUMBAI, CHENNAI

WOMEN
GROUP X: KUALA LUMPUR, OSLO, JAGATPURA
GROUP Y: PUTRAJAYA, COLOMBO, NEW DELHI

Kabaddi Presentation

For those of you who missed out on the KAKL Kabaddi presentation during our annual dinner, here is a youtube version.

An invitation to everyone

Get set for the draw

The official draw ceremony of the KL International Inter City Kabaddi Championships would be held on Thursday February 25th, 2010 at the Function Room, Lotus Restaurant in state Petaling Jaya.

The 12 teams in the men's competition would be divided into four groups while the six teams in the women's competition would be divided into two groups.

The top two teams in each group would qualify for the knockout stages during the competition from March 5-7 at the Stadium Titiwangsa.

Deputy Foreign Minister YB Senator Kohilan Pillay, who is the patron of the championships, would be the guest of honour at the draw ceremony.

5 countries, 13 cities, 1 destination

The KL International Inter City Kabaddi Championships is set to be the biggest international kabaddi for national style competition ever.

Thirteen cities from five countries have confirmed their participation at the second edition of the championships at the Stadium Titiwangsa from March 5-7.

The men's competition will see a record 12 teams teams vying for the crown while the women's competition would see six teams in contention.

Katmandu, Colombo, Oslo, Patialla, Vijayawada, Chennai, New Delhi, Faridabad, Kapurthala, Mumbai, Jagatpura would be joined by teams from Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya at the championships.

The official draw for the championships is expected to take place next week.

Olympics is but a dream.....for now

During the 1936 Olympics, kabaddi was demonstrated by the Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal from Amaravati, Maharashtra in Berlin.

While kabaddi enthusiast, still claim that it was part of the Olympics, you would not find it in the official list of demonstration sports at the Games.

Ever since kabaddi was included as a medal sports at the Beijing Asian Games in 1990, there has been numerous statements from the international kabaddi officials that kabaddi would be in the Olympics before long

The irony is that the form of kabaddi demonstrated in Berlin was circle kabaddi and the form played at the Asian Games is the national style kabaddi.

But is kabaddi really heading in the right direction towards Olympics recognition.

The earliest edition of Olympics where kabaddi can be included would be the 2024 Games.

That is a almost a quarter of a century away. The type of sports to be included up to the 2016 Olympics have already been decided. Golf and rugby were included into the Olympics programme by the International Olympic Council at their meeting last year.

Inclusion of new sports into the Olympics are made seven years in advance. The inclusion of newer sports for the 2020 Olympics would be made in 2013 at the IOC meeting in Rio de Janeiro.

Mathematically, kabaddi can fight for inclusion for the 2020 Olympics but that is highly improbable because no groundwork has been done by the international bodies.

All we hear are mere political statements designed for the feel good factor.

Despite recognition at the Asiad, kabaddi is still a long way off from being recognised by the IOC.

For starters, regional sports like wushu, sepaktakraw and even silat are in better position to gain an Olympic spot.

Kabaddi at the international level needs an upheaval. IOC regulations stipulates that there must be a minimum of 50 countries from three continents playing the game as one of the preconditions to be a member of the IOC.

Kabaddi, for all we know is still an Asian dominated game and worst for it still a game predominantly played only in South Asia.

Kabaddi, despite being in the Asian Games, is not in any of the other regional games in Asia with the exception of South Asian Games. The East Asian Games or the South East Asian Games do not have kabaddi in their programme.

Neither does the sport have regular continental championships even in Asia. Absolutely no continental championships is held outside of Asia.

These are just two of the setbacks for kabaddi in its quest for Olympic status. Many of us may not live to the day when kabaddi gains Olympic recognition.

But if serious planning and execution of an Olympic programme is not done with immediate effect, it would take several more decades before the sport gains a wider international appeal.

Colombo back for another atempt

Brigadier E M M Ambanpola giving away the prizes at the last championships in 2008.

Sri Lanka's Colombo will be the final addition to the KL International Inter City Kabaddi Championships to be held at the Stadium Titiwangsa from March 5-7.

Team delegation leader Brigadier E M M Ambanpola confirmed the entry of both their men and women's teams for the championships yesterday.

With the entry of Sri Lanka, there would representation of city teams from five different countries at the championships.

New Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Kapurthala, Vijayawada and Patialla are the city teams from India playing at the tournament.

Nepal would be represented by Katmandu while Oslo would represent Norway.

The local representation are Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

Colombo were edged out by Kuala Lumpur in the men's semi-finals at the last championships and would be looking forward to avenge the defeat and perhaps win the title this time around.

Their women were runners-up to Patialla two yeas ago.

The draw for the championships would be made after the closing date of February 15.

About the Presidents Cup by the KAKL president

For the past couple of weeks, we have been asked over and over again as to why we were not part of the President’s Cup kabaddi championships.

We chose not to make a big fuss over our omission from the tournament, which we had won twice before and could have easily won again, for several good reasons.

Unlike others, we are not in the business of disrupting any kabaddi tournaments even when we are being victimized.

We were shocked that the organisers had even hired bouncers in the misguided anticipation of us disrupting their tournament.

Now that the tournament is over, we believe that it is important to dispel rumours and set the facts right.

This is not the first time that our teams have been unceremoniously omitted from major competitions.

Last year, we initiated and worked very hard to include kabaddi in the Malaysian Traditional Games Festival. But, some calculative officials conspired to stop us from playing at the national level championships in Ipoh. We did not make a fuss then too.

For those of you, who have been following this site, the Kabaddi Association of Kuala Lumpur (KAKL) have been at odds over many issues with the Kabaddi Association of Malaysia (KAM).

One of these, was the fact that the KAM failed to invite us for the last General Meeting. We had written to them asking for an explanation in January 2009. After one year, we have yet to receive a reply to our queries. Very efficient indeed for a set of so-called experienced sports administrators!

In the meanwhile, certain KAM officials had gone on an extended campaign claiming that the KAKL were no longer an affiliate.

It reminds to us the words of renowned American journalist Ambrose Bierce who said:

“It is a strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.”

The organisers did not invite us for the President’s Cup in what we presume was their reasoning that we were no longer KAM affiliates.

That being the case, we are left wondering the need for the KAM officials to make press statements over and over again in the newspapers that the KAKL team were barred from taking part in the President’s Cup.

We found it funny but totally amateurish attempt by these officials to smear the good name of the KAKL. Why talk about us when they had already claimed that the state was not part of their organization? Did the KAKL even requested to play in the tournament?

These are the type of gutter politics kabaddi nor any sport, for the matter, needs.
That the so-called powers to be, were prepared to victimize the players for their own benefit shows the shallowness of their boast of developing the game.

The KAKL did not take part in the Presidents Cup because we were not invited. If there was an invitation, we would have certainly send the cream of our players with the target of winning the titles at stake.

But we are not willing to beg for inclusion when we had done no wrong. Even if there was a notion of, we the office bearers having done something wrong, that should not have affected the players.

Nevertheless, missing the tournament had its positive implications for us.
We were able to gauge and assess the strength and weakness of the teams from the other states that we need to face during the SUKMA in Melaka in June.

And for heavens sake, we strongly suggest that all the rubbish talk that the team from Federal Territory would not be allowed to play at the SUKMA be stopped immediately.

Entries for SUKMA are by the respective state sports councils and approved by the National Sports Council. The KAM’s role is only on the technical aspects of running the kabaddi competition and not approval of teams to the SUKMA.

We missed out the chance of the hattrick at the Presidents Cup but it gave us the opportunity to concentrate on the KL International Inter City Kabaddi Championships we are hosting from March 5-7 at the Stadium Titiwangsa.

The championships is being hosted with the support of the Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur, the Majlis Sukan Wilayah Persekutuan and the Jabatan Belia dan Sukan Wilayah Persekutuan.

This is enough to put a rest to the unwarranted statements that the KAKL is not a legal sports body.

The competition at the international would be a great advantage in the preparation of our team for the SUKMA.

Some of our players and officials took time off to watch the finals of the President’s Cup and it was a good educational visit for us as we are in the midst of organising a major tournament and also in view of the SUKMA preparations.

No matter what happens, these are the mistakes we will not make when we host the KL International Inter City Kabaddi Championships early next month.

1. We will not waste money in hiring bouncers for sporting events
2. We will only use local players images in our event posters and banners and buntings and backdrops instead of foreign players.
3. We will take good care of our sponsors and not allow our own actions result in sponsors cancelling their commitment.
4. We will invite even our most hateful critics to attend our functions and give them due respect.
5. We will not allow the fermentation of infighting by encouraging splinter groups.
6. We will not call the media and discourage them from giving publicity for kabaddi events run by rival groups.
7. We will not use gangsters to harass officials.
8. We will not post lies on blogs and then boast about it to others


But the President’s Cup also raised some interesting questions especially the fact that the host states key officials were conspicuously missing. And no, we were not surprised that the national body’s president was himself missing from a tournament named Presidents Cup.

Yours in kabaddi,

S.T. Arasu
President
Kabaddi Association of Kuala Lumpur

And Faridabad makes it a dozen

Faridabad is the last confirmed foreign team for the KL International Inter City Kabaddi Championships to be held at the Stadium Titiwangsa from March 5-7.

Team coordinator Uma Shankar Vashisht made a eleventh hour appeal for the teams inclusion and the entry was accepted.


Uma Shankar Vashisht (extreme left with KAKL's S.T. Arasu and WKF president Dorji Lama (centre) at the International Kabaddi League in Lumbhini, Nepal.

With the confirmation of the Faridabad team, the number of teams in the men's competition would be 12.

The other foreign teams coming for the championships are Chennai, Vijayawada, Mumbai, Patialla, Kapurthala, Katmandu, Oslo and New Delhi.

The local challenge at the championships would come from Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. The final team would be the KL Development team.

KL International officially launched

Hosts Kuala Lumpur need to be at their best if they harbor any hopes of making the final of the second KL International Inter City Kabaddi Championships, at the Stadium Titiwangsa from 5-7 March.

The KL side came within a whisker of winning the inaugural title two years ago but will have to contend with a stronger field for this year’s edition.

The KL International Inter City Kabaddi Championships was to have been officially launched by Deputy Foreign Minister Senator A Kohilan Pillay today but he had to attend to some urgent government matters.

FT Sports Council's Kenneth Alberqueque launched the tournament instead.

The tournament is an unique competition catering for teams representing various cities.

Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya teams would spearhead the Malaysian challenge at the championships.

Two years ago, Kuala Lumpur stunned a star studded Colombo squad in the semi-finals. The Colombo squad included five internationals and were strong favourites for the crown.

Colombo have yet to confirm their entry this year but defending champions Patialla of Punjab are sure starters.

Punjab are among several Indian cities that have confirmed their participation in the tournament. The others include New Delhi, Kapurthala, Chennai, Mumbai and Vijayawada.

Also in the fray is the Katmandu city team from Nepal. Norway’s Oslo, made up of Indian expatriates, is the other team that has confirmed their participation.

Malaysia will also have its own expatriate team in the competition. The KL expatriate team, made up of Indian workers would be making their debut at the championships.

The men’s competition is expected to see a minimum of ten teams while the women’s competition would see a minimum of four teams.

“We had interests from a number of other teams from other countries but they were unable to raise the funds needed to come here,” said KAKL president S.T. Arasu.

He added the tournament would help the city SUKMA squads in their preparation for the biennial event in Melaka this year.

KL are confident of winning both gold medals at stake in Melaka for the SUKMA. The KL men won the gold at the last SUKMA in Terengganu where kabaddi was a demonstration sport.

“All the players in the SUKMA training squad would play at the International Inter City Championships and the strong opposition would help them with their own game,” said Arasu.

The KL International Inter City Kabaddi Championships is supported by the KL City Hall, the Federal Territory Sports Department and the Federal Territory Sports Council.

Figos and 100 Plus are among the sponsors.

Oslo NRIs to field team

There will be an European representation, at least by name, at the KL International Inter City Kabaddi Championships.

Non Resident Indians (NRI) of the Norwegian city would be fielding teams in both the men's and women's competition.

Team manager Dr Sukhdarshan Chahal said that they were looking forward to play in Kuala Lumpur.

The team also took part at the International Kabaddi League (IKL) in Lumbhini Nepal last year and would be a team to reckon.

Chahal said that they were finalising the arrangements for the teams departure to Malaysia and are looking to give their best.

Apart from Oslo, the other teams confirmed for the championships are Katmandu, Patialla, Vijayawada and New Delhi.

Test Matches

The Kabaddi Association of Kuala Lumpur would finalise the state teams for the KL International Inter City Kabaddi Championships on Wednesday night.

The men and women squads would be named based on a series of test matches to be played on Wednesday from 7.00pm at the Sri Devi Kabaddi Grounds in Puchong.

KAKL will enter a minimum of two teams each in the men's and women's categories.

All players interested in making the squads are requested to report for the test matches at the venue by 7.00pm. All players are also requested to bring along a passport size photograph.

Victorious debut?

The city of Vijayawada would be making their debut at the International Inter City Kabaddi Championships at the Stadium Titiwangsa from March 5-7.

Vijayawada literally means Place of Victory and the team is gunning for the crown in the men's competition.

Asian Beach Kabaddi Federation (ABKF) secretary K.P. Rao said that the city team from Andhra Pradesh would comprise of senior players.

"The team is made up of experienced players as we want to do well at the tournament," said Rao.

Vijawada joins a growing list of teams for the championships. The other confirmed foreign teams are Katmandu, New Delhi and defending champions Patialla.

Meanwhile, the official launch of the IICKC would take place on February 10th.

CONDOLENCES

The executive committee of the Kabaddi Association of Kuala Lumpur (KAKL) would like to extend our heartfelt condolences to the family of Nagalingam, who passed away earlier today.


The funeral is scheduled for tomorrow and will update the details as soon as we get.

Naga was a gifted kabaddi player and was among the first names the selection committee came up when the Federal Territory team for SUKMA was being made.

Naga is a key raider in the Sri Devi Tigers squad and would have been a great asset to the state.

His untimely and demise at such a young age is to say cruel.

Our prayers are with him and may his soul rest in peace. He will be remembered by all of us.

Members are requested to pay their last respects to Naga at 30-1-5 Rista Villa, Putra Perdana, Puchong.

Patialla to defend crown

All India Circle Kabaddi Federation secretary Ved Sharma has confirmed that defending champions Patialla of Punjab would be back to defend the International Inter City Kabaddi Championships from 5-7th March, 2010.

Patialla grabbed a double at the inaugural championships in 2009. Their men's team defeated Kuala Lumpur in a keenly fought final and would be the team to watch at the championships.

While the Patialla team is expected to miss some of their players from the last championships, they are expected to bring in some new but equally experienced faces.

The other confirmed teams for the championships are Katmandu and New Delhi.

It will be the first appearance for Katmandu while Delhi played at the last championships.

Katmandu confirms

More teams have confirmed their participation at the 2nd KL International Inter City Kabaddi Championships from March 5-7.

But to keep up the excitement, we will release the team names one at a time.

Today, we are happy to confirm the participation of the team from Katmandu. It would be the first appearance of a Nepali team in a competition in Malaysia.

It would also be a Nepali teams first appearance in any competition, outside the South Asian region.

Naresh Gautham, who has been a prime mover for kabaddi in Nepal, confirmed that the men's team from Katmandu was all set to make the trip to Kuala Lumpur.

We will announce the name of yet another team tomorrow. So stay tuned for more details.