SportsKabaddi
India open Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship against England as first edition begins in Ahmedabad
Thirteen nations are in the inaugural event, which runs until 31 October. India's women play Malaysia and the men face England on Friday night.
Key points
- The first Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship runs from 23 to 31 October in Ahmedabad.
- India's men, led by Surjeet Singh, play England at 8:30 pm IST on Friday.
- Nidhi Sharma's women's team meet Malaysia at 6:45 pm IST.
Kabaddi’s first Commonwealth Championship got under way in Ahmedabad on Friday, and hosts India begin their campaign under lights tonight with the men taking on England at 8:30 pm IST.
Thirteen nations are taking part in the inaugural edition at the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex, with 23 squads playing 62 matches over nine days under the slogan “One Breath. One Raid. One Commonwealth.” Pakistan were among the nations first announced but withdrew amid tensions between the two countries.
India’s women go first, against Malaysia at 6:45 pm. They are led by Nidhi Sharma with Ritu as vice-captain. The men’s side is captained by Surjeet Singh, with Naveen Kumar as his deputy, and includes Sachin Tanwar, Pankaj Mohite, Neeraj Narwal and Bharat Hooda.
The men are in a seven-team Group A with Nigeria, Malaysia, Uganda, England, Tanzania and Sri Lanka, while Bangladesh, Kenya, Canada, Australia, Scotland and Singapore make up Group B. The women’s Group A has India, Singapore, Nigeria, Uganda and Malaysia. Teams play everyone in their group once, and the top two in each group reach the semi-finals, where group winners meet the other group’s runners-up.
India’s men follow England with matches against Uganda, Malaysia, Nigeria, Tanzania and Sri Lanka, finishing their group on 29 October. The semi-finals are on 30 October and both finals on Saturday 31 October, the women’s at 7:30 pm and the men’s at 9 pm.
The tournament is being shown on Star Sports and streamed on JioStar.