Italy will host the 2022 European Kabaddi Championships under the auspices of World Kabaddi. This will be the third edition of the championships with Scotland and Cyprus successfully hosting the previous two editions.
The decision was confirmed in a meeting held in Bergamo, Italy yesterday. Final detail of the championships including the exact dates and venue would be confirmed later.
World Kabaddi president Ashok Das, who is also the Kabaddi Europe president said that Italy hosting the European Kabaddi Championships would be a big boost for kabaddi in Europe.
“From the start we had wanted to expand kabaddi to newer countries and Italy’s confirmation to host the championships would further strengthen World Kabaddi’s foothold in Europe as well as to help expand the game to more nations in the continent,” said Ashok.
Italy, who were among the teams that participated at last year’s European Championships in Cyprus, have shown keen interest in promoting and developing the sports.
The Italy Kabaddi Federation is currently headed by Sukhmander Singh Raju, who has worked tirelessly for many years, to get kabaddi a strong base in Italy.
“I have to thank the strong leadership of Mr Sukhmander and his management team for taking this giant step forward for the good of kabaddi,” said Ashok.
This year is expected to be a busy year for World Kabaddi with Egypt hosting the second Africa Kabaddi Championships and Argentina hosting the inaugural Pan America Kabaddi Championships.
Efforts are also being made by World Kabaddi, who are in the midst of discussing with various parties to host the Asia-Oceania Kabaddi Championships later this year.
The marquee event for the year will undoubtedly be the hosting of the World Kabaddi. The World Cup was supposed to have been held last year, but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
World Kabaddi is confident that the prestigious tournament can be held this year with the final dates likely to be confirmed in a few month’s time.
In addition several members are already planning their own national leagues including the British Kabaddi League, the North American Kabaddi League and the Malaysia Kabaddi League.
“We hope that the continental bodies ensure that there is at least one tournament in each region each year. We also hope that more national association would also create a structure national league to further promote and develop kabaddi,” said Ashok.
