India’s legendary coach Balwan Singh who coached the Indian kabaddi teams to Asian Games gold medals in 2010 and 2014 and also led the team to the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup has returned as one of the three coaches in the coaches’ panel for the Indian men’s kabaddi teams for various age groups.
Former Asian Games gold medalist, Ashan Kumar who guided South Korea to the silver medal at the 2018 Asian Games is also included along with Jaivir Sharma, who is a coach at Sports Authority of India in Ahmedabad.
In the coaches’ panel for the women’s team, Dronacharya award-winning coach Sunil Dabas has been included along with Shailja Jain, who led the Iranian women’s team to gold in Jakarta last year. Banani Saha who was the assistant coach for the Indian kabaddi team at 2018 Asian Games is also part of the panel.
The Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India had advertised for the posts of coaches for the Indian men’s and women’s kabaddi teams for various age groups on October 15. After examining over 29 candidates for the posts (20 for men and 9 for women), the AKFI announced the final list on Thursday.
After a lack of international events since the Asian Games, there is some action expected in the coming months with the first-ever U-20 Kabaddi World Cup set to be held in Iran in November.
The senior World Cup is also expected to take place in the first half of 2020, where India would be hoping to defend their title and re-establish their dominance in a sport after the setback at the Asian Games last year.