The traditional game of Pakistan -- Kabaddi -- was in the focus again last week when Sialkot Wolves, the second franchise of the first Pakistan Kabaddi League, was bought by a former MPA from Sialkot, M Akhlaq.

Interestingly, hockey players are showing good interest in Kabaddi as former hockey Olympian Muhammad Usman bought the Islamabad team and former Pakistan Hockey Federation secretary Asif Bajwa took the role of mentor for the Sialkot Wolves. Perhaps the hockey players are disappointed by the future of their own game and they are trying to be attached with other sports.

No doubt, Kabaddi is a very popular game in many districts of Punjab. It has the potential to bring the fans to the stadium. However, the main challenge for the Pakistan Kabaddi Federation will be attracting the business houses to sponsor the event.

Six teams will compete in the Kabaddi league and all the matches will be held in Lahore as the government is ready to provide security to the matches played in the provincial capital.

An exhibition match of Kabaddi is being held at Baba Ground near Civil Secretariat in memory of Baba-i-Kabaddi Ali Muhammad Khawaja who was the president of the Pakistan Kabaddi Federation (PKF) in the mid- 1990s.

The much-awaited and delayed project of the International Swimming Pool is likely to be inaugurated this month. The project was started in 2008 and it was to be completed in 2010 at the cost of Rs160m. But negligence on the part of the authorities not only delayed it by seven years but it also raised its cost to around Rs450m. The recruitment of the staff is going to start in the coming week.

A national level badminton ranking tournament, played in Lahore, was dominated by the players of Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda). Hafiz Irfan Saeed of Wapda won men’s singles event while Mahnoor Shahzad of the same department clinched the women’s singles title. Wapda’s Attique and Awais Zahid also won the men’s doubles. Fifty male and female players competed in the event. Pakistan Badminton Federation (PBF) Secretary Wajid Ali, an ex-international player, organised the event.

A seminar on International Day of Sports for Peace and Development’ was conducted in the Fazl-i-Hussain Reading Room of the Government College University by the Ravian Health and Sports Society in collaboration with Pakistan Olympic Association (POA).

Retired Lt Gen Arif Hasan, president POA, Syed Hassan Amir Shah, vice chancellor, Ch. Muhammad Yaqoob, chairman Pakistan Volleyball Federation, Shaukat Javed, chairman Pakistan Federation Baseball, Khadim Ali Khan, director Sports GCU highlighted the role of sports for development and peace.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2017