India Should Allow Pak to Play Kabbadi, Justice Rajindar Sachar

NEW DELHI:
The Statement of Vijay Goel, Union Minister for Sports saying that Union of India will not allow Kabbadi game players from Pakistan to play in India, even after they have been selected by the organizers is most un-sportsmen like and deliberately provocative. Sports Ministry is supposed to advance the cause of better relations through sports not to stifle it by purporting to lay down foreign policy.
Justice Rajindar Sachar, former President of People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), said that the steps taken by his ministry earlier in denying Pakistani Swimmers and Crickets to participate will result in preventing terroristic activities from Pakistan discloses a muddled mind polices. I feel Goel is purporting to take a position beyond his power as a sports minister, which is to encourage Inter-States friendly sporting activities.
Goel should not forget that Kabbadi is said to have originated in ancient India and has been one of the most popular games in India. Kabaddi received international exposure during the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The game was introduced in the Indian Olympic Games at Calcutta in 1938.
India won the 2013 Kabaddi World Cup held at Guru Nanak Stadium, Ludhiana (Punjab) India. India also won the Kabaddi World Cup in 2016.
India won the Kabaddi World Championship in 2007, beating Iran 29-19. The game was very popular and is still so in Pakistan Punjab. To deny Pakistan players would be unsportsmanlike apart from certain of spoiling relations with Pakistan. We may regret the antics of Pakistan government but at least let us keep the contact open through sports. Goel must function as a sports Minister to see it happen, he added.