IKF to take legal action against two PKL stars for participating in 'Fake' Kabaddi World Cup

Two PKL stars could face big trouble for playing unofficially in the Kabaddi World Cup.

The International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) released a statement about the ongoing Kabaddi tournament in London, calling it unauthorized. Under the aegis of the World Kabaddi Federation, a parallel international governing body for Kabaddi announced that the Kabaddi World Cup 2025 will happen from the 17th of March to the 23rd of March in Birmingham, England with England Kabaddi Association and British Kabaddi League hosting it.

This created quite a bit of surprise among fans as it was stated on their website that it would be a seven-day tournament featuring teams like India and Pakistan and would have 60 matches. It is learned that former PKL players Amit Hooda and Rakesh Narwal were among the players representing India in the tournament.

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The official governing body of the sport has made it clear that the ‘so-called’ Kabaddi World Cup held in the United Kingdom is not authorised by the official international body governing the sport. The Olympic Council of Asia and the Asia Kabaddi Federation are the associations that duly authorise world governing bodies for different sports and for Kabaddi it is the International Kabaddi Federation.

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These three associations are responsible for the conduct of Kabaddi in the Asian Games for both the Men’s and Women’s categories. These associations categorically denied any activities with the unauthorized body. Also, they pointed out that every country has their own National Sports Federation for Kabaddi which has been affiliated with IKF and AKF.

The statement stressed that none of these national federations are represented at the tournament in Birmingham. The IKF has approached all the national federations including the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) regarding the event and the AKFI has confirmed that they will not be participating in the tournament.

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The International body has requested the Indian body to take measures to avoid such misrepresentations in the future. They have also urged legal action against the players who have participated in it. The likes of Amit Hooda and Rakesh Narwal could face legal action. AKFI would want to be in the good books of IKF having been suspended earlier last year due to the lack of an elected body. The action against such events would increase the integrity of the sport.

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