Kabaddi World Cup: Kapil Dev loses cool over question on Pakistan's absence from tournament

Mumbai: Cricket legend Kapil Dev on Tuesday lost his cool at the Kabaddi World Cup media conference in Mumbai, where he was the chief guest, when a scribe asked why Pakistan had not been invited to take part in the tournament to be held from 7 October in Ahmedabad. “If you are a Hindustani you should not ask the question at all. Is it the time to ask this question?” he asked fuming, obviously referring to the deadly fidayeen attack by militants suspected to be from Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) on Sunday at Uri, which left 18 soldiers dead. [caption id=“attachment_3013020” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Kapil Dev. Reuters[/caption] Kapil, who had unveiled the Indian team’s jersey at the conference, also said, “Such things should be left to the government to decide. As sportsmen representing the country if we are told to jump into a pond, we will readily do it.” Twelve teams, including India, are to take part in the third edition of the tournament and the list does not include Pakistan. The tournament had been held in 2004 and 2007 prior to the upcoming edition. Anup Kumar from Haryana will lead India in the World Cup. All-rounder Manjeet Chillar will be Anup’s deputy in the 14-member squad for the tournament. The countries which will take part in the tournament are Iran, South Korea, Bangladesh, USA, England, Australia, Poland, Thailand, Japan, Argentina, Kenya and hosts India. Balwan Singh is the head coach of the squad with E Baskaran as his deputy.