India Men and Women retain their Kabaddi World Cup titles. The overall 7th Kabaddi World Cup or the 5th edition of the circle style Kabaddi World Cup was held in India from Dec 7, 2014 to Dec 20, 2014. The grand finale took place at the Guru Gobind Singh Stadium, Jalandhar (Punjab).
Kabaddi is one of the most ancient sports of the Indian sub-continent. It has evolved over a period of time and now it exists as three different styles namely Rectangular, Circle & Beach style Kabaddi. The first Kabaddi World cup was held in 2004 organised by International Kabaddi Federation, Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India and South Kanara Sports Club. Later 2007 Kabaddi World Cup was organised by International Kabaddi Federation and Karnala Sports Academy.
In the Punjab region the circle style Kabaddi format is the most popular format, so the first circle style Kabaddi World Cup was held in the year 2010. Later it followed during years annually. It was promoted by the Government of Punjab.
Indian National Men’s team had won all the Kabaddi world cups played till now (2004, 2007 and the circle style World cups – 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 & 2014). India won the Kabaddi World cup 2014 match against Pakistan with 45-42.
It was raiders Sandeep Singh Surakhpur (16) and Sandeep Luddar (10) were the top scorers, while stopper Yadwinder Singh Yada “Surakhpur” also registered 5 points and Gopi secured 3 points respectively to help India’s triump.
For Pakistan, raiders Shafiq Ahmad Chishti, Mohammad Irfan and Akmal Sajjad Dogar scored 15, 13 and 6 points respectively, while stoppers Musharaff Javed Janjua secured 4 points for their team.
Indian Women’s team also remain unbeaten from the First Women’s Kabaddi World cup (2012-2014) till now. They won the final match against New Zealand with 36-27 on the Women’s Kabaddi World Cup 2014.
Indian raiders Priyanka Devi and Ram Bateri scored 8 points each and Sukhwinder Kaur secured 7 points, while stoppers Anu Rani took 4 while Ritu and Jasvir registered one point each. Kiwi raiders Lani Perese scored 12, Motu Elizabeth secured 9 and Pomare secured 4 points, while stoppers Titu and Tekawa registered one point each.
The best raiders of men section were Sandeep Surakhpur (India) and Shafiq Ahmad Chishti (Pakistan) and best stopper was Yadwinder. They were awarded with Preet Tractors each. In women’s section, the best raiders were Ram Bateri and Priyanka, while best stopper was Anu Rani. They were honoured with a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh each.
New Zealand raider Lani Perese and stopper Tito were also awarded with a special cash prize of Rs 1 lakh each.
In this event, 11 teams in men section and 8 teams in the women section had participated.The 11 teams of men section included India, Pakistan, Argentina, United States of America, England, Canada, Australia, Iran, Denmark, Spain and Sweden. In the Women section’s , 8 teams participated including Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Mexico, New Zealand, United States of America, England, Denmark and India.
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Circle style Kabaddi is up for a major facelift under the mentorship of Shri Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy CM Punjab & Shri Pargat Singh, Olympian and sports administrator. The World-wide Kabaddi League, to be launched soon will be played across 4 continents and will be the only international sports league to come out of India.
200 circle style Kabaddi clubs exists across the world.