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The 2019 South Asian Games are set to take place from 1st to 10th December 2019 in Kathmandu-Pokhara, Nepal. Kabaddi event at this year's 13th edition of SAG will feature six teams - India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afganistan, and Nepal. India is the most successful team with nine gold medals to their name.
Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) announced a list of 48 men and 42 women players who will participate in the coaching camps at SAI NBA, Rohtak, Haryana. The training will take place from 5th November to 26th November 2019.
Regular captain Ajay Thakur has not been included in the squad as he hadn't played in the Nationals earlier this year. The likes of Siddharth Desai and Rohit Kumar are prominent names missing from the list as well due to the same reason.
Arjuna awardee and Padma Shri winner Ajay Thakur captained the Indian Kabaddi Team in the 2017 Asian Kabaddi Championship and Kabaddi Masters Dubai. They won gold medals in both tournaments before settling for bronze medals at the 2018 Asian Games.
Many Pro Kabaddi stars such as Pawan Sehrawat, Pardeep Narwal, Naveen Kumar, and Nitesh Kumar have made it to the probables list for this year's event. Surender Nada could also make a comeback to the side, who remained absent in the seventh season of Pro Kabaddi due to his shoulder injury.
AKFI recently appointed a new coaching panel for both men's and women's teams. Dronacharya awardee Balwan Singh, Arjuna awardee Ashan Kumar, and SAI Gandhinagar coach Balvir Singh are the coaches for the men's side. Sunil Dabas, Shailaja Jain, and Banani Saha were appointed for the coaches panel of women's team.
The likes of Sayali Keripale, Payel Chowdhary, Sonali Shingate, and Ritu Negi are a part of the probables list. The women's team will look to clinch their second gold medal after their inaugural medal at the 2010 South Asian Games.
The Indian men's team has won nine gold medals with a silver medal (1993) thus far in history. They won their recent gold medal of South Asian Games back in 2016 under the captaincy of Anup Kumar, as the Indian team walks in as favourites to win this year as well.
