Ban On Indian Kabaddi Federation Will Be Lifted Next Month: International Body Chief Vinod Kumar Tiwari

In a respite for Indian kabaddi players, the international governing body of the sport is set to lift suspension imposed on the national federation next month after the court-appointed administrator handed over the charge to the 'elected body'. International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) President Vinod Kumar Tiwari told PTI that the ban will be lifted after an executive council meeting scheduled next month. The IKF had banned the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) in July last year after the 'elected body' was not allowed to take charge.

"The court-appointed administrator has handed over the charge to the AKFI office bearers who were elected in December 2023. The AKFI office bearers have started functioning from AKFI office at JLN Stadium," Tiwari said in an interview.

"So, the ban on AKFI will be lifted. We will have our executive board meeting (of the IKF) next month and the ban will be officially lifted." In a February 6 order, the Supreme Court had asked Justice (Retd.) S P Garg, the AKFI administrator, to hand over control of the federation to the office bearers elected in December 2023.

The SC division bench had, however, clarified that it hadn't recognised the elected body of the federation yet, but was passing the order to allow participation of Indian players in the senior Asian Kabaddi Championship-2025 scheduled in Iran from February 20 to 25.

The top court passed the order after two national Kabaddi players -- Priyanka and Pooja -- sought direction to AKFI for sending them to Asian Kabaddi Championship in Iran.

Tiwari said the IKF had already allowed the Indian players' participation in the Asian Championships.

Earlier in 2019, the Delhi High Court made Justice (Retd.) Garg as the AKFI administrator after quashing appointment of former federation chief Janardan Singh Gahlot as 'Life President' and election of his wife as president.

In the December 2023 elections held under the charge of Garg, Vibhor Vineet Jain was elected AKFI president and Jitendra Thakur as general secretary. But the outcome of the election was kept subject to a petition before the High Court.

That meant that Garg continued to be in charge of the AKFI affairs, leading to the ban imposed on the national federation by the IKF.

'It's for AKFI to take action against team that took part in World Cup in UK'

Last week, the IKF declared that the Kabaddi World Cup being held in London is not an "authorised" event and asked the AKFI to act against the team that had gone to take part in the tournament.

Kabaddi World Cup 2025 is being held in the West Midlands from March 17 to 23. The tournament is being hosted by the England Kabaddi Association and the British Kabaddi League (BKL) under the aegis of World Kabaddi Federation, a parallel international governing body of the sport.

"It's a free world, so in a sense you can't stop anybody from taking part in tournaments. But that World Cup is not recognised by the IKF and the Indian team that had gone was not send by AKFI. Only thing we can do is to send teams authorised by AKFI.

"It's for the AKFI to take action against the team that had gone to England for the unauthorised World Cup." Tiwari, who is also Deputy Director General of Olympic Council of Asia, admitted that things also got worse after the AKFI remained inactive for the past many years. "We did mistakes also, we have not held any tournament in the last eight years. The fulcrum of kabaddi (in the world) is India but there were no national championships or World or Asian championships in India as AKFI has been run by a court-appointed administrator.

"But things will get back to normal from now onwards. We will conduct 2-3 World Championships consecutively."

IKF planning to stage PKL style kabaddi leagues in Qatar, Thailand

Tiwari said the IKF is planning to begin leagues in Qatar and Thailand this year to spread the sport with an aim to include it in the Olympics in future. "Wherever there are Indians, kabaddi is popular. But we are trying to spread the sport to other countries and areas. That is important to popularise the sport if we have to take it to the Olympics.

"We are in discussion to have a masters championships in Qatar involving 7-8 teams. We are also starting a league in Thailand to be competed among players of South East Asia. All these will be franchise-based leagues and most likely starting this year." Asked about likely franchise owners, he said most of them would be from India. 

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