Independence Cup Kabbadi begins today

The final round of Bashundhara Presents Independence Cup Kabaddi tournament gets underway from tomorrow at the Suhrawardi Indoor Stadium in Mirpur with the participation of eight teams.

The participating teams -- seven services teams and three qualifying districts -- will be split into two groups and play round-robin matches. The top two from each group will advance to the semifinals.

"We don't have any hesitation in saying that kabaddi is not in the position it was supposed to be in, but we are trying to elevate it since taking over. We went to the grassroots level to organise the Independence Cup," said Bangladesh Kabaddi Federation general secretary additional DIG Habibur Rahman at a press conference yesterday.

He added that they have started the Independence Cup Kabaddi from the Upazila level and then staged it at district and divisional levels before holding the final round in Dhaka.

BKF president and IGP AKM Shahidul Haque said their main target for the tournament would be to select talented players and train them under the supervision of foreign coaches in a bid to produce good results in the Asian Games.

The inspector general of police also informed that the ad-hoc committee has planned to hold 11 competitions in one-year calendar.