Daily Times

NEW DELHI: A day after athletes arrived in Lahore via the Wagah Border, Indian authorities on Monday said theagenciesy had not approved any team from the country to participate in the Kabaddi World Cup currently underway in Pakistan. Indian Olympic Association (IOA) chief Narinder Batra said he had “no idea” about the players who had gone to Pakistan as neither the IOA nor the Amateur Kabbadi Federation of India (AKFI) had approved any team to participate in the World Cup, The Hindustan Times reported.

“The IOA has not approved and it has also not been approved by the federation so I don’t know who has gone. Whether 60 or 100 have gone, I have no idea. The kabaddi federation, which is a member of IOA, has confirmed that they have not sent anyone. I have seen statements from the (sports) ministry which confirm they have not approved anyone. So I don’t know who they are and what the story is,” he was quoted as saying. SP Garg, the administrator of AKFI, also confirmed that the federation had not granted permission to any team to take part in the Kabaddi World Cup in Pakistan, adding that the authority discovered that players from India had gone only after information was sought.

The statements by Indian officials have given rise to confusion as a team from India had arrived in Pakistan through the Wagah Border to participate in the Kabaddi World Cup 2020 on Saturday. According to Scroll.in, for Indian teams to participate in international competitions, the relevant body needs to write to the sports ministry which then forwards the request to the Ministry for External Affairs and the Home Ministry for clearance, irrespective of whether it is a government-funded event or not. All of the previous six-circle-style kabaddi world cups have been hosted by India with the most recent event taking place in 2016.

Pakistan is hosting the event for the first time this year. The tournament will be eight-days long with matches in Lahore, Faisalabad, Kartarpur and Nankana Sahib. Other than India, teams from Iran, Canada, Australia, United States, Sierra Leone and Kenya are also participating in the event.