MUMBAI: The New Kabaddi Federation of India (NKFI) on Wednesday launched the Indo International Premier Kabaddi League which is all set to begin on 26 January next year, three weeks after the completion of the Pro Kabaddi League, Press Trust of India reports.
The winner of the tournament is set to receive Rs 12.5 million and eight teams will compete with each other for it in its first edition namely Bengaluru Rhinos, Chennai Cheetahs, Delhi Dumars, Telangana Bulls, Patna Panthers, Haryana Hurricanes, Mumbai Marathas and Kolkata Tigers.
The NKFI will conduct selection trials of players across the country on 6 Oct. Followed by which, the player draft will be held on 5 January 2019, which will comprise of over 1000 players, out of which 823 will be domestic and 177 will be overseas from countries such as New Zealand, Poland, Argentina, Tanzania, Australia, Norway, United Kingdom, Canada and USA, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Mauritius, Kenya, Iraq and Denmark.
Each franchise will have 2 to 3 international players. The league stage format will be played as a double round robin consisting of 62 matches over a period of six weeks. The top four teams will qualify for possibly IPL-style playoffs.
All these matches will be officially broadcasted in India by Discovery Communications India’s DSport.
Interestingly, the NKFI also announced that it will share 20 percent of the league’s annual profits with the participating players and 50 percent of it with state kabaddi federations to grow the game. It shows the increasing stature of NKFI, which is said to be the de-facto governing body of the game in India at present. The Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) is struggling to get out of its administrative mess.
The Indo International Kabaddi League has got the backing of the World Kabaddi Federation (WKF), though not of the International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) just yet which is presided by Janardhan Singh Gehlot, the former AKFI chief who has been banned for life by the Delhi High Court from being associated with the federation.
“We are overwhelmed to launch the Indo International Premier Kabaddi League in India. This will be the first league featuring the best of Indian and International players from across the world.
“The purpose of the league is to give a fair chance to all players, to encourage competition which will benefit federations and players. We are providing 20 per cent of the profit to players and 50 percent to the state federation for the development of the game.” MV Prasad Babu, general secretary of NKFI was quoted as saying to PTI.
