The ‘unofficial’ Kabaddi team that went to Pakistan to play World Kabaddi Championship is set to be quizzed on their return to India on Monday. The Indian team lost to Pakistan in the finals on Sunday by 41-43. A contingent of Indian players reached Lahore on Saturday (February 8) via the Attari border to participate in the championship in the neighbouring country.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan took to Twitter on Monday to congratulate the Pakistan team for defeating India’s “unofficial Kabaddi team”.
Congratulations to the Pakistan Kabbadi team for winning the Kabbadi World Cup after defeating India.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) February 17, 2020
To participate in a sports event abroad, the national federation must write to the Sports Ministry which in turn needs to communicate with the Ministry of External Affairs (for political clearance) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (for security clearance). The Sports Ministry and Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) had made it clear that India did not send any “official” team to Pakistan.
Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju said, “Playing in the name of the country and using flag needs to be investigated. There is no permission for going to Pakistan. Anybody can go anywhere, but using India’s name is an issue.” The administrator of AKFI, Justice SP Garg (retd), warned that legal action would be taken against the defaulters.
Earlier, the Government extradited cricket bookie Sanjeev Chawla accused in 2000 match-fixing scandal, to India from the United Kingdom. The Delhi Police Crime Branch intercepted a conversation between blacklisted bookie Sanjeev Chawla and Hansie Cronje, in which it was learnt that the South African captain had accepted money to lose matches.
