Pakistan’s men’s and women kabaddi teams Saturday depart for India to feature in the Kabaddi World Cup

Lahore: Pakistan’s men’s and women kabaddi teams Saturday have departed for India to feature in the Kabaddi World Cup being staged in the neighbouring country from December 6 to 20, 2014.

Punjab Minister for Sports and Education Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan and Director General Sports Usman Anwar saw off the teams at National Hockey Stadium here on Saturday. Sports Board Punjab also arranged a ceremony on this occasion. Pakistan teams will launch their World Cup campaign on December 9 simultaneously.

World class raider Shafiq Ahmed Chishti is leading the men’s team while experienced female player Madeeha Lateef will be the skipper of national women team for the grand tournament. Waqas Akbar and Ghulam Abbas Butt have been assigned the duties of manager and coach of the team respectively.

Punjab Minister for Sports and Education Rana Mashud Ahmad Khan, in his address, has expressed the hope that Pakistan teams will offer better performance in the biggest event of kabaddi history. Mashhood said that merit has been followed completely while selecting the kabaddi teams for the mega event. “The merit criteria can be gauged from the fact some members of women team have been included from the small cities like Muzaffargarh, Attock, Jhelum and Sahiwal,” he claimed.

To a question regarding the strength of men’s team in the World Cup, Rana Mashhood told that 11 members of Pakistan men’s kabaddi team including all the top players have been issued the Indian visas. “Indian authorities have assured us to issue visas to remaining six Pakistan players, officials and guests as early as possible and we are quite confident that our remaining players will reach India before our first match on December 9,” he explained.

Mashhood further said that Pakistan kabaddi players have spent a lengthy time in the training camps and that’s why we are quite upbeat about the preparation of our players. “Our teams are well prepared to face any kind of challenge in the Kabaddi World Cup,” he continued.

Director General Sports Punjab Usman Anwar, in his address said that Pakistan Kabaddi teams have been rated as favourites for the grand event which is a big plus for us. “The performances of our teams in the previous editions of World Cup are open to everyone. We just missed the title in the last event but this time we are pretty confident of our triumph on the soil of our arch rivals,” he added.

When asked what would be the Sports Board Punjab’s line of action in future in response to India’s non-cooperation and reluctance regarding the issuance of visas to Pakistan players, DG SBP replied: “Pakistan will not create any hurdle in the visa process for any team in our sporting events including Punjab Youth Festival and other tournaments. We believe in the promotion of sports and we will provide every kind of assistance for the sake of sports promotion,” he elaborated.

Replying a query, DG SBP said that Pakistan teams can win Kabaddi World Cup comfortably if they managed to exploit their potential properly in the showpiece tournament.

Following are the members of Pakistan men’s kabaddi team: Shafiq Chishti (Captain), Akmal Shahzad Dogar (Vice-Captain), Musharraf Javed Janjua, M Irfan, Rehman Ishtiaq, Naeem Tahir Sindhu, Mohsin Naseer Wahla, Muhammad Khan, M Ramzan, Khalid Bhatti and Ali Shan.

Officials: M Waqas Akbar (Manager), Ghulam Abbas Butt, (Coach).

Women Kabaddi team: Madiha Latif (Captain), Saira Saeed (Vice Captain), Zeenat Perveen, Neelum Riaz, Nida Arshad, Sadia Abdul Khaliq, Sumaira Zahoor, Saira Bano, Sehrish, Ammara Razzaq, Agasta Ajmal, Rikhsana Perveen, Raheela and Syeda Farida Khanum.

Officials: Sumaira Sattar (Manager) and M Asif (Coach).