World Cup Kabaddi-- ‘Ego tussle’ between groups of players keeps Norway away

World Cup Kabaddi
‘Ego tussle’ between groups of players keeps Norway away
Rajay Deep
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, April 3
It was not the last minute withdrawal by the Norway Kabaddi team - as claimed by the sports department Punjab, in fact, “ego tussle” between the two groups of players prevent them to form a team for participating in the World Cup Kabaddi, Punjab-2010.
As per the information gathered by The Tribune, there are two main groups of Kabaddi in Norway—the Tikka group and the Padda group. And both groups carry a two-year-old internal tussle.
Confirming the issue, vice-chairman of the organising committee of Kabaddi World Cup, Sikander Singh Maluka said, “We put our best to help them to reach at some settlement between the groups and constitute a team, but our every effort went in vain.”
Maluka added, “I along with director sports, Punjab, Pargat Singh kept on calling them for four consecutive days (March 28-31). Meanwhile, we also took the help of kabaddi players of UK, but all efforts proved futile.”
“After long negotiations, Tikka group had somehow agreed to bend but Padda group flatly refused to make a joint team with them, as of result, the players will have to face a major loss as they have lost opportunity to gain name and fame at the world level,” Maluka said.
Replying a query, Maluka said that Norway had many kabaddi players but the only hurdle was the condition that all players, representing the country, must be its permanent residents.
“Most of the kabaddi players in Norway have work permit only. These two groups had only five-six permanent residents each, so none could form the team and finally, failed to be part of the Kabaddi World Cup,” informed Maluka.