The Indian and Pakistani kabaddi teams have agreed to meet in an international friendly match in March 2022, as part of the preparations for the four-nation Kabaddi Tournament, which will be held in Lahore in April 2022.
With the Kartarpur Corridor chosen as the location for this historic international game, both federations have given the green light for the kabaddi match to be staged, which would see players going from both sides of the border to the visa-free zone of Kartarpur, close to the India-Pakistan border.
Rana Mohammad Sarwar, Secretary of Pakistan Kabaddi Federation, told The News:
“Both Pakistan and India have agreed to hold the international match within the Kartarpur Corridor, which would make history.
Teams from both sides of the border have agreed to play international friendly matches. At the end of the match, both teams would return to their respective nations.”
Previously, the Indian Kabaddi squad also had traveled to Lahore for the 2020 Kabaddi World Cup. That expedition was full of action on the court, with India and Pakistan facing off in the tightly fought finals, and Pakistani went on to win the World Cup by a score of 43-41.
Because Kabaddi is a contact sport, it was unavoidably affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, which caused problems in the sports world. While other sports such as tennis, badminton, cricket, and football are resuming their regular operations with new rules, kabaddi is likely to return shortly.
In India, the Pro Kabaddi League will return for an eighth season in December, although this time without spectators and in only one location – Bangalore, rather than the league’s traditional touring caravan structure.
Similarly, the world of kabaddi has awoken worldwide, and India and Pakistan, both kabaddi-strong nations that exchange winning World Cups or coming in second place at the major platforms, are scheduled to enter into the spirit of international rivalry by playing a friendly within the Kartarpur Corridor in 2022, just before the Kabaddi Tournament begins in Lahore in April.
The Secretary of PKF also acknowledged the impact of the pandemic on kabaddi, while looking forward to the future with optimism.
“Because kabaddi is a contact sport, things have been really difficult for kabaddi. We struggled to organize the camps, local and international events, but now that things have opened up, we are eager to get back into the swing of things.
The international versus India and the four-nation event would kick-start international kabaddi,”
Sarwar told the media.
The preparations for the return of the kabaddi season have begun, and India and Pakistan will be the ones to get the atmosphere set for the much-anticipated competition in April with a friendly match within the Kartarpur Corridor area.
