ISLAMABAD: Four Pakistani players will leave for India on Saturday from Lahore to participate in the Pro Kabaddi League.

They are national team captain Waseem Sajjad, Nasir Ali, Tariq Dogar and Tahseenullah.

The league will be played in various cities of India although Pakistani players will not be participating in Puna and Mumbai matches due to security reasons.

Following the protest by Shiv Sena over the inclusion of Pakistani players in Pro-Kabaddi League, there were very less chances of Pakistani players’ participation’ in the league. However, the Pakistan Kabaddi Federation (PKF) took up the case with its Indian counterpart and organisers of the Pro-Kabaddi League who assured full security and protection to Pakistani players on Indian soil.

A source in the PKF told Dawn that organisers of the mega event gave full assurance that Pakistani players will be provided with top security.

In the event (July 18 to Aug 23), Waseem Sajjad and Nasir Ali will be representing Patna Pirates Franchise while Tariq Dogar will represent Bengal Warriers and Tahseenullah will be part of Bengaluru Bulls.

“Our four players will leave for India on Saturday form Lahore via Wagah Border. We are in touch with the Indian authorities and players would be provided with due security,” said Rana Mohammad Sarwar, PKF secretary.

He said that Indian authorities “gave us full assurance” that players will be provided with security and good playing environment. “Following the protest of Shiv Sena, we took up the issue very seriously with the organisers of the event, who in response gave us full assurance that there will be no harm done to Pakistani players,” he said.

Meanwhile, national team captain Waseem Sajjad in a telephonic conversation with Dawn said: “We all (four players) are hopeful of showing powerful performance in the Indian league,” he said and added that there should be no tension between two neighboring countries. “Teams of both sides should frequently visit each other for the promotion of the game.”

The 32-year defender, who played key role for his team Patna Pirates in the last edition, said that league is a fine opportunity for the Pakistani players to earn good money and learning the techniques of the game.

He added that Pakistan should also start a kabaddi league here for the promotion of the game.

The Pro-Kabaddi League, an initiative of Mashal Sports India, was started last year on the lines of Indian Premier League T20 cricket tournament.

Meanwhile, Sarwar said that Pakistan’s kabaddi team will participate in 12th edition of the South Asian Games which are slated to be held in India from Jan 10-20. He said that a strong team which will be a combination of young and senior players will be fielded in South Asian Games.

“We are going to start a training camp from Aug 1 here in Islamabad. We have called 25 junior players form all four provinces to join the camp. After the National Championship, which is likely to be held in September, we will pick more players for the South Asian Games,” he said and added that team would be a mixture of youngsters and senior players.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2015

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