Naveen Kumar, Sachin Tanwar lead new-look India squad for Commonwealth Kabaddi

India have named a new-look 14-member men’s squad for the inaugural Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship, and not one of the players who won Asian Games gold last month is in it. Naveen Kumar, Sachin Tanwar and Surjeet Singh are the marquee names, while a large number of the other players have yet to appear in a senior match for the country, according to Sporting News.

The championship runs from Friday, 23 October to Saturday, 31 October at the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex in Ahmedabad. The selection turns a home international event into a proving ground for the next layer of Indian talent rather than a lap of honour for the side that won gold.

Naveen, Sachin and Surjeet carry the senior experience

With the gold-winning group left out, the burden of experience falls on three familiar names. Around them, the selectors have picked a squad in which many players will be stepping into senior international kabaddi for the first time.

The full Indian men’s squad:

• Sachin Tanwar
• Naveen Kumar
• Bharat Hooda
• Pankaj Mohite
• Aditya Shinde
• Shivam Patare
• Neeraj Narwal
• Surjeet Singh
• Ajit Pawar
• Parvesh Bhainswal
• Shubham Shinde
• Yogesh Dahiya
• Nitesh Kumar
• Deepak Sankar

The tournament is being organised by the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India.

India drawn alongside Nigeria in Group A

Thirteen men’s teams are taking part, split into two groups, one with seven sides and the other with six. India have been placed in Group A, where Nigeria are among their opponents. The women’s competition features ten teams, divided into two groups of five.

The Indian women’s squad also numbers 14 players:

• Nidhi Sharma
• Simran Kamboj
• Champa Thakur
• Anu Kumari
• Ritu Mitharwal
• Karthika Ramesh
• Suman Sahu
• Sakshi
• Jyothi
• Riya Kumari
• Renuka Choudhary
• Muskan Sharma
• Priya
• Sabhai Gadhavi

Simran Kamboj is Punjab’s only name in the women’s team

One of the selections drawing attention at state level is Simran Kamboj, a 25-year-old right raider from Panjawa village in Muktsar district, in the Lambi Assembly constituency. Khalsa Vox reported that she is the only player from Punjab in the 14-member women’s squad.

Her call-up follows international success earlier in the year. In April 2026, Simran represented India at the Asian Beach Games in Sanya, China, where the women’s kabaddi team won gold. That title was India’s sixth consecutive gold medal in women’s kabaddi at the Asian Beach Games, and Simran was the sole player from Punjab in that squad as well.

She comes from a family with no previous background in professional sport. Her father farms and her mother is a homemaker, while her grandfather, Nand Lal, served in the Indian Army and retired with the rank of Subedar. Her younger brother, Harman Singh, described her selection as a proud moment for the entire household.

Simran studied at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Warring Khera village in Muktsar before graduating from Dev Samaj College for Women in Ferozepur. She is now enrolled in a Master of Physical Education programme at Guru Kashi University in Talwandi Sabo, Bathinda, and trains regularly at the Sports Authority of India centre in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh.

What comes next

Both Indian squads will be in action on home soil when the championship gets under way in Ahmedabad on Friday, 23 October. The tournament concludes on Saturday, 31 October.