The Punjab government has announced Rs 25 lakh as cash reward for the womens kabaddi team if they win the Kabaddi World Cup - the womens event has been included in the second edition of the tournament - to be held in November this year. The decision to include women kabaddi in the World Cup was taken by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal in a meeting with officials of Punjab sports department,recently. The sport got a major boost after the state government organised a Kabaddi World Cup last year. We are launching the Women Kabaddi in the World Cup this year to promote it in what has been considered to be male domain only. Besides India,teams from Iran,America and Canada would be among those competing in the womens section, Sukhbir said. The Deputy CM claimed that the next Kabaddi World Cup would have women tournaments on much larger canvass and added that 16 teams have confirmed their participation in the mens category while 10 teams were in waiting for the ensuing World Cup. It (inclusion of women kabaddi) would be game changer as far as Punjab girls are concerned. It would motivate them to take sports as career, said Bathinda Member of Parliament Harsimrat Badal. Notably,in the second edition of Kabaddi World Cup,the state has announced Rs 2 crore for the winner team in mens category,doubling the first prize money from Rs 1 crore last year. This year,the runners up team and the team finishing third in the mens category would be given cash prizes of Rs 1 crore and Rs 51 lakh,respectively. We hope to plug this prize money disparity. Rs 25 lakh reward is only a beginning. As the game picks up pace and gets competitive with more girls evincing interest,the reward money would be increased further and brought at par with men to ensure equality, Harsimrat added.
