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Pakistan barred from competing in Kabaddi World Cup hosted by India

Speed News Desk | Updated on: 7 February 2017, 1:21 IST

International Kabaddi Federation chief Deoraj Chaturvedi, on 5 October, revealed that Pakistan has been denied entry into the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup which will kick off this week in Ahmedabad, India.

An international news agency quoted Chaturvedi as saying, "This is not the right time to engage with Pakistan."

He further added, "Pakistan is a valuable member of the IKF but looking at the current scenario and in the best interest of both the nations, we decided that Pakistan must be refrained from the championship."

Following IKF's decision, Pakistan said both countries should have been excluded from the 12-nation Kabaddi World Cup if there were security concerns.

Pakistan kabaddi federation secretary Rana Muhammad Sarwar commenting on the exclusion said, "We have called a meeting to discuss this issue but let me tell you that a Kabaddi World Cup is no world cup without Pakistan. This is just like a football world cup without Brazil."

Pakistan captain Nasir Ali said his players were the favorites as they had beat India at the six-nation Kabaddi Cup held in Pakistan in May 2016 and last month's Asian Beach Games in Vietnam. "We were hoping to win the world cup in India by beating India," Ali was quoted by an international news agency as saying.

On the opening day, Iran will face US and India will be up against South Korea.

First published: 5 October 2016, 3:06 IST