India to play six-nation kabaddi tournament in Dubai in late June ahead of 2018 Asian Games

Mumbai: Indian men’s national kabaddi team is set to take part in a six-nation kabaddi tournament that will be hosted in Dubai in the month of June. The competition that is expected to feature teams like Pakistan, Iran, South Korea and Kenya will take place from 22-30 June in Dubai with the exact venue of the competition still unknown. [caption id=“attachment_3066934” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of the Indian Kabaddi team.[/caption] According to a source in the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI), the sixth participating team is yet to be finalised, with Argentina, who took part in the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup, are most likely to enter the competition. The Indian team players are currently undergoing a training camp in Haryana in preparation for the 2018 Asian Games. However, national team coach Rambir Singh Khokhar has hinted that India will take the upcoming competition in Dubai seriously. “We are training in the camp with this tournament in mind at the moment. Of course, we have the Asian Games later in August, but before that, we must focus on this tournament,” Khokhar told Firstpost on the sidelines of the Pro Kabaddi Player Auction. With the tournament featuring the best Asian teams, the six-nation tournament will be a good preparation for the Jakarta Games, but it will also provide teams like Iran, Pakistan and South Korea precious insights on India’s strategy and will help them figure out any possible weaknesses. Khokhar though remained unperturbed by any such threats and hinted at making the best possible use of his squad in the upcoming tournament. “We have a very big squad so we are not worried about our opponents knowing about our plans. Our aim is to win this particular competition,” the Indian coach added. The six-nation tournament is expected to be shown live on Star Network, although further details of the telecast and the competition schedule are not yet available. Meanwhile, it was a memorable week for some of India’s kabaddi superstars with five of the players currently in the Indian camp going for sums of over 1 crore in the recently concluded Pro Kabaddi League Player Auctions. Monu Goyat became the most expensive kabaddi player ever after being purchased by Haryana Steelers for a fee of Rs 1.51 crore. Rahul Chaudhari (Rs 1.29 crore), Nitin Tomar (Rs 1.15 crore), Deepak Niwas Hooda (Rs 1.15 crore) and Rishank Devadiga (Rs 1.11 crore) were the other Indian players to attract a bid of over Rs 1 crore. Iran’s Fazel Atrachali became the most expensive foreign player ever after being sold for 1 crore, while his Iranian teammate Abozar Mohajermighani too attracted a hefty price of Rs 76 lakh.