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Kabaddi World Cup set to begin in Punjab
Canada will join 11 other international teams at the 4th World Kabaddi cup which will be held from November 30 to December 14 in Punjab, India.
Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said the arrangements are being made to keep the world cup to be completely drug free.
He said for this purpose National Anti Dope Agency (NADA) has been approached to depute teams for conducting dope test on the players.
The blood samples would be collected before the tournament and the samples of dope would be tested from the laboratories duly recognized by World Anti Dope Agency (WADA) and anyone found guilty of taking drugs would be banned for two years, besides curtailment of prize money.
The top prize at the annual Kabaddi World Cup in India is more than $300,000 Canadian.
Over the last few years, the Kabbadi World Cup has been tainted with doping scandals.
In 2011, over 50 kabaddi players were caught for doping from several different countries, including Canada, Britain, the United States, Italy, Spain, Australia, Norway, Germany, Argentina, India and Pakistan.
At the 2011 Kabaddi World Cup in India, 53 players from 11 countries tested positive for banned substances, including eight Canadians. Canada had to forfeit more prize money than any other nation, losing more than half of their $180,000 winnings.
In 2012 , Canadian player Varinder Singh Dhanoa was found guilty of using banned substances and was banned from the World Cup. The fine was deducted from the prize money of the Canadian team, which came in third.
Punjab kabaddi association president and education minister Sikandar Singh Maluka said a meeting was held last week to finalise the modalities of the world cup. Talking to Times of India Maluka said "12 teams of men and 8 teams of women have confirmed their participation in the world cup, which will be inaugurated on November 30 at Bathinda".
He said the chief minister of Pakistan Punjab and sports minister of Canada too have confirmed participation whereas efforts are on to invite certain celebrities for the tournament and approximately Rs. 20 crore budget has been approved. He said Men teams will be from India, Argentina, USA, England, Canada, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Iran, Denmark, Kenya, Scotland and Spain where as the Women teams included India, USA, England, Denmark, Iran, Mexico, Kenya and Pakistan. The matches will be played in 13 stadiums.
The opening ceremony would be held in Bathinda and the closing ceremony at the Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana.
In the men’s section, the winning team would get Rs 2 crore, with Rs 1 crore for runners up and Rs 51 lakh for 3rd position. Participating teams would get Rs 15 lakh each.
Winners' prize money, in the women section, has been doubled. The winning team will get Rs 1 crore while team finishing 2nd and 3rd would get Rs 51 lakh and Rs 25 lakh respectively.
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