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After a massive defeat at the hands of South Korea, Argentina coach Ricardo Acuna revealed that he will make a plea to the International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) to extend technical help from traditional Kabaddi-playing nations like India or Pakistan
Argentina have lost both their matches in the Kabaddi Masters tournament so far, going down 54-24 against Iran in their first match. Their second match turned out to be an even bigger disaster, as they lost 72-16 at the hands of South Korea.
After the end of their second match, Acuna said to the media that he will make an appeal to the IKF for technical help to help develop the game of kabaddi in Argentina.
"I have a meeting with IKF, and there we will request for help from other countries. Maybe a coach from India or Pakistan who knows more about the sport and can help train our players, and help them get better," said Acuna. "When I meet Mr (Janardhan) Gehlot (IKF president), I will bring up the point that we need coaching assistance."
However, Acuna made it clear that kabaddi in Argentina does not have much money, and that they would not be able to pay a basic salary to the coach.
"The problem is that we don’t have money to pay the coach. We can give him a home and take care of his food in Argentina, but we don’t really have any money to pay him," said Acuna.
Although getting an Indian or a Pakistani coach is high on Argentina's list, their top priority is to get more mats from the Asian countries.
"We need more mats. That’s the most important thing we need," he emphasized. "Currently, we have just one mat in all of Argentina. To help develop players from all over the country, we need more mats in different cities."
Acuna also went on to explain that a number of athletes, who were interested in playing kabaddi pooled in to buy a mat in La Plata, which happens to be the only kabaddi mat in Argentina.
While the local players want to avail more mats, the volatile nature of the Argentine Pesos makes buying another one a rather difficult affair.
