Sierra Leone will battle 15 other countries for the title in the 3rd edition of the Kabaddi World Cup, scheduled to be held from 1st to 15th December in India.
This will mark the country’s first international outing since the sports was introduce and launched in the country in June 2012.
Kenya and Sierra Leone are the two African countries that will battle in this year’s tournament, facing the likes of England, Afghanistan, Denmark, Canada, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Norway, Pakistan, Scotland, Argentina, Italy, Iran, and USA who have all given their consent to participate in the meet.
Head coach of the Sierra Leone team, Sonny Johnson said they are in their final preparation for the tournament as they look forward to their first international exposure.
He said: “This is a new sports that was introduced in the country by Indian nationals and since then we have benefited a lot from advance training so we are going to the Kabaddi World Cup with some knowledge and we hope to gain more experience from it.”
Punjab’s deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, while reviewing preparations for the tournament said the prize money has already been doubled for winner, runners-up and the third placed team.
He said the opening ceremony would be held at Bhatinda on December 1 and the tournament would be played at 13 venues of Patiala, Hoshiarpur, Amritsar, Sangrur, Roop Nagar, Doda, Chohla Sahib, Fazilka, Gurdaspur, Mansa, Bathinda, Jalandhar and Ludhiana.
He said that the men’s teams would be stationed at Jalandhar and Bathinda whereas the women’s teams would be stationed at Ludhiana.
Kabaddi is a South Asian team sport. Two teams occupy opposite halves of a field and take turns sending a “raider” into the other half, in order to win points by tackling members of the opposing team; then the raider tries to return to his own half, holding his breath and chanting the word “Kabaddi” during the whole raid.
The raider must not cross the lobby unless he touches any of his opponents. If he does so then he will be declared as “out”. There is also a bonus line which ensures extra points for the raider if he manages to touch it and return to his side of the field successfully. Sierra Leone is the first West African country to have officially accepted the sport.
The delegation which will be headed by the president Ravindar Singh Jassal will also include Rafeek Thekkit Secretary General of the Association and head coach Sonny Johnson will depart the country on 30th November, 2012 with Kenya Airways.
Those that will make the trip are Sulaiman Kamara, Imran Rashid Mansaray, Saidu Kamara, Jonathan Williams, Mohamed Kandeh, Edwin Felix Smith, William Sesay, Mohamed Jalloh, Morlai Koroma, Amidu Dumbuya, Samuel Lebbie and Hassan Koroma are all in the squad in their debutant tournament.
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