Pakistan has been dropped as a participant from the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup that begins on Friday, October 7. Chief of the International Kabaddi Federation's Chief Deoraj Chaturvedi said on Wednesday, "Pakistan is a valuable member of the IKF, but looking at the current scenario, and in the best interest of both nations, we decided that Pakistan must be refrained [from the championship]."
Referring to the rising hostilities between Islamabad and New Delhi, officials of the federation said it was "not the right time to engage with Pakistan", ANI reported. Officials of the sport from Islamabad said a kabaddi World Cup without Pakistan would be "just like a football World Cup without Brazil". Chairperson of the Pakistan Kabaddi Federation Rana Muhammad Sarwar said they had called for a meeting to discuss this matter.
Ahmedabad will host the two-week-long championship, in which 12 teams are participating. These include teams from Iran, Australia, South Korea, England, Poland, Kenya, Argentina, Poland and United States. The sport has its origins in India.
Relations between India and Pakistan deteriorated after the militant attack on the Indian Army's Uri base on September 18. India accused Pakistan of being involved in the planning of the attack and launched surgical strikes against terror launchpads along the Line of Control. On September 30, the Board of Control for Cricket in India had asked the International Cricket Council to not schedule any matches between the Indiam and Pakistans squads.
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