Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship opens: India face Malaysia, England

The inaugural Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship opens at the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex in Ahmedabad on Friday, 23 October, with India’s women taking on Malaysia at 6:45 PM and India’s men facing England at 8:30 PM. Over nine days, 23 squads from 13 nations will contest 62 matches, 39 in the men’s competition and 23 in the women’s, before both titles are decided on Saturday, 31 October.

The first match of the tournament is Kenya against Singapore in men’s Group B at 11:00 AM. The championship is organised by the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) with the approval of the International Kabaddi Federation (IKF). As IANS noted, it also offers a first look at kabaddi’s Commonwealth potential, with Ahmedabad preparing to host the Commonwealth Games in 2030.

India’s men must get through a seven-team group

The 13 men’s teams have been split unevenly. India sit in the larger, seven-team Group A alongside Nigeria, Malaysia, Uganda, England, Tanzania and Sri Lanka. Group B has six teams: Bangladesh, Kenya, Canada, Australia, Scotland and Singapore.

Every team plays the others in its group once, and the top two in each group advance to the semifinals. The Group A winners will meet the Group B runners-up, while the Group B winners will face the Group A runners-up.

That gives India’s men six group matches, all scheduled for 8:30 PM:

• Friday, 23 October: England
• Saturday, 24 October: Uganda
• Sunday, 25 October: Malaysia
• Monday, 26 October: Nigeria
• Tuesday, 27 October: Tanzania
• Thursday, 29 October: Sri Lanka

Surjeet Singh leads a 14-man squad with Naveen Kumar as deputy

Surjeet Singh captains the men’s side, with Naveen Kumar as vice-captain. The rest of the 14-man squad is Yogesh Dahiya, Shubham Shinde, Deepak Sankar, Nitesh Kumar, Parvesh Bhainswal, Ajit Pawar, Sachin Tanwar, Pankaj Mohite, Bharat Hooda, Shivam Patare, Neeraj Narwal and Aditya Shinde.

India arrive less than a month after the men won kabaddi gold at the Asian Games in Aichi, Japan, on Saturday, 26 September, under head coach Balwan Singh.

Nidhi Sharma’s women have four games to top Group A

The 10 women’s teams are divided into two groups of five. India are in Group A with Singapore, Nigeria, Uganda and Malaysia, while Bangladesh, Kenya, England, Scotland and Sri Lanka make up Group B. The same format applies: a single round of group matches, with the top two from each group reaching the semifinals and crossing over.

Nidhi Sharma captains the women, with Ritu as vice-captain. The 14-strong squad also includes Muskan Sharma, Sabhai Gadhavi, Priya, Champa Thakur, Riya Kumari, Suman Sahu, Jyothi, Ritu Mitharwal, Renuka Choudhary, Simran Kamboj, Anu Sen, Sakshi and Karthika Ramesh.

Their four group matches are all at 6:45 PM:

• Friday, 23 October: Malaysia
• Saturday, 24 October: Singapore
• Sunday, 25 October: Uganda
• Monday, 26 October: Nigeria

The women’s group stage concludes on Wednesday, 28 October.

Semifinals on 30 October, both finals on 31 October

The knockout rounds are packed into the final two days. The semifinals are on Friday, 30 October, with the women’s ties at 6:00 PM and 6:45 PM and the men’s at 8:30 PM and 9:30 PM. The finals follow on Saturday, 31 October: the women’s at 7:30 PM and the men’s at 9:00 PM.

The tournament is being staged under the theme “One Breath. One Raid. One Commonwealth.”

After Friday’s openers, India return on Saturday, 24 October, when the women play Singapore at 6:45 PM and the men face Uganda at 8:30 PM.