Technical Course

The KAKL Level One Technical Course and Refresher Course for existing officials was successfully conducted from 26-28 February, 2010.

The first two days course was conducted at the Kompleks Sukan Bukit Kiara and the practical sessions was held on the third day at the Kompleks Sukan Kampong Pandan.

KAKL would like to thank all those who attended and also the Jabatan Sukna Wilayah Persekutuan for their assistance.

The exams for the Level One Technical Officials would be held later this month.

However, those who attended the course are expected to help out during the International Inter City Kabaddi Championships.

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.