NKFI initiates a new Kabaddi League with Dsport
New Kabaddi Federation of India (NKFI) has launched the ‘Indo International Premier Kabaddi League’ which will begin on 26th January 2019.
The winner will get a massive cheque of Rs.1.25 crore for which over 1000 Kabaddi players will give a fight. DSPORT, the Discovery Communications India-owned sports channel, will broadcast all the matches.
NKFI was founded last year by the former Indian International Kabaddi players. The federation is not recognized by the International Kabaddi Federation, which is under the assistance of Olympic Council of Asia.
The League will have 8 teams with 62 matches. In which each franchise will have 3-4 foreign players from across the world. It will feature players from New-Zealand, Poland, Argentina, Tanzania, Australia, Norway, United Kingdom, Canada and USA, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Mauritius, Kenya, Iraq, Denmark and various countries around the world. This league will be held for one and a half month.
823 Indian players will be part of this league, that includes 271 state-level players, 137 national and International level, 84 International registered players with NKF. The player draft will take place on 5th January 2019. Bengaluru Rhinos, Chennai Cheetahs, Delhi Dumars, Telangana Bulls, Patna Panthers, Haryana Hurricanes, Mumbai Marathas and Kolkata Tigers are the eight franchises of Indo International Premier Kabaddi League.
“We are overwhelmed to launch the Indo International Premier Kabaddi League in India. This will be the first league featuring the best of Indian and International players from across the world.
The purpose of the league is to give a fair chance to all players, to encourage competition which will benefit federations and players. We are providing 20 percent of the profit to players and 50 percent to the state federation for the development of the game.” MV Prasad Babu, General Secretary of NKFI said in a conversation with The Indian Express.
NKFI communicator and lawyer Bharat Nagar was also present at the occasion of the launching of IIPL and said, “The new tournament will reach out to more players in the country’s rural belt as the rival federation has created a monopoly in the game. Many kabaddi players didn’t get a chance to showcase their talent as the AKFI is being ruled by a single family for the last many years while the NKF is formed by the players.”
After the selection of Indian teams for Asian Games 2018, a petition was filed by former Kabaddi players C Honnappa Gowda and S Rajarathinam alleging AKFI about unfair selections and bribing for selections of the teams. In reply to this, the Delhi High Court gave judgment to arrange trails between Asian medal-winning team players and those who were not selected in the team on 15th September under the supervision of an observer SP Garg, retired justice. While NKFI players came at the venue Asiad players skipped the trails. Due to no clarity in orders, the selection trails turned out to be just exercise.