Pakistan's participation in the Kabaddi World Cup, which is being hosted by India and starts on Friday, was always doubtful ever since the official launch of the tournament last month when the country's name was not among the 12 teams taking part. International Kabaddi Federation chief Deoraj Chaturvedi confirmed the news on Wednesday when he said that Pakistan has been denied entry in the tournament because of political tensions with India.
"This is not the right time to engage with Pakistan," Chaturvedi said. "Pakistan is a valuable member of the IKF but looking at the current scenario and in the best interest of both the nations, we decided that Pakistan must be refrained from the championship."
Pakistan accused the IKF of unfairly targeting the country, saying both rival nations should have been excluded owing to security concerns. “We have called a meeting to discuss this issue but let me tell you that a Kabaddi World Cup is no world cup without Pakistan," said Pakistan Kabaddi Federation secretary Rana Muhammad Sarwar. "This is just like a football world cup without Brazil," he added.
Pakistan captain Nasir Ali backed his team to be the favourites to clinch the title after defeating India at the six-nation Kabaddi Cup held in Pakistan in May and last month's Asian Beach Games in Vietnam. "We were hoping to win the World Cup in India by beating India," Ali said, adding that the fans were being denied matches between the top two sides.