AKFI complains to Sports Ministry, shuts down Kabaddi tournament in Rajasthan

Indian kabaddi fraternity was rocked by a controversy when a competition named 'Shankar Nirash Smuti National Kabaddi Tournament', which was supposed to be organised by the New Kabaddi Federation in Jaipur ran into trouble.

The event was scheduled to start from February 5 and conclude on February 8.

Rajasthan State Kabaddi Association secretary, Govind Sharma termed the tournament "illegal" and went on to say that the players were being led astray by the New Kabaddi Federation.

Sharma said that Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) president Dr Mridul Bhadauria had lodged a complaint with the respective sports ministries of the central and state governments against the New Kabaddi Federation. Acting on the complaint, both the ministries had ordered the North Jaipur Police to stop the aforementioned competition immediately.

Sharma said that both the Indian Sports Ministry and Rajasthan Sports Council have deemed the aforementioned competition to be illegal in the letters that were sent by the bodies on January 8 and February 5 respectively.

As per Rajasthan Sports Council's letter, the only recognised Kabaddi governing body in the state is Rajasthan State Kabaddi Association and thus New Kabaddi Federation has no right to organise a competition of this stature.

It must be noted that though this tournament has 'National Kabaddi' in its name, it has nothing to do with the Senior National Kabaddi Championships, the 65th and latest edition of which was won by Maharashtra in Hyderabad last month.

Kabaddi, which was once considered a rural sport, attracted the attention of all and sundry when the Pro Kabaddi League was introduced in the year 2014. Since then, every year a lot of kabaddi tournaments are organised in different states but this particular event has run into trouble as the national kabaddi federation has already lodged a complaint against the body which is organising this competition.