Kabaddi player murder: All tournaments suspended for a week, say kabaddi federations

After the incident, people have thronged to his village to express condolences. His family said that they do not suspect anyone at the moment. Meanwhile, a gangster is said to have taken responsibility for the murder through a social media post but police have not confirmed it.

Satinder Singh, SSP Jalandhar, Rural said that police teams are raiding a lot of places to nab the murderers.

Sandeep’s elder brother, Angrez Singh told the Indian Express that they have no clue about who committed the crime. “He was a professional kabaddi player and was passionate about the game. He had stated playing when he was a teenager and has played village, district and inter-state level before joining the England Kabaddi Federation in 2001,” he said.

Sandeep and his family used to visit Punjab every year during the kabaddi tournament season, which starts in November-December, with major tournaments taking place from February to April every year. (Twitter)

“Sandeep had never told us or his family that there was any threat to his life,” his brother added.

Sandeep’s parents, brother, wife and two sons live with him in the UK while one sister and one brother live in Punjab. His father Swaraj Singh had come to India around two to three months back and was supposed to return to UK on April 10.

His mother Kashmir Kaur, wife and two sons are expected to reach Punjab from the UK on Wednesday.

Sandeep and his family used to visit Punjab every year during the kabaddi tournament season, which starts in November-December, with major tournaments taking place from February to April every year.

“He was a very hard working person who always worked for the promotion of the game so that the youth could be attracted towards it,” said fellow Kabaddi player Rashpal Singh Sheera.

Another kabaddi player on the condition of anonymity told the Indian Express that several players are now in a state of fear and have refused to participate in upcoming tournaments.

Associated with the kabaddi tournaments for the past five decades, Surjon Singh Chatha, an NRI himself and president of North Indian Kabaddi Federation said that they were shocked.

Surinder Manak, president of England Kabaddi Federation and Chatha on Tuesday announced the cancellation all the tournaments for a week.

Sandeep’s parents, brother, wife and two sons live with him in the UK while one sister and one brother live in Punjab. (Twitter)

Replying to the allegations that money collected from drugs’ sale are used in these tournaments as well as the involvement of gangsters, Chatha and Manak labelled them as baseless and said that the only purpose of these tournaments is to promote the game at rural level so that the youth can participate in them and stay away from drugs.

They demanded a through probe in the Sandeep’s murder as soon as possible. They added that Sandeep was a British citizen and they will raise the matter with the British High Commission as well.

Manak said Sandeep played for them for over a decade. “Our federation is organising tournament at Holla Mohalla in Shri Anandpur sahib for the past 18 years,” he said.

Who organises Kabaddi Tournaments

There are several kabaddi federations worldwide which are 2-3 decades old and mostly formed by the NRIs of the Punjab state to promote the game among the youth. These federations organise matches in Punjab, UK, Canada and the US every year. Among these federations, North India Kabaddi Federation Punjab, England Kabaddi Federation, Major Kabaddi League federation have NRIs as their promoters, who manage to organise the tournaments in Punjab and abroad.

Every Federation has 15-20 clubs having their own teams which participate in the matches. Apart from this, several village-level committees are also formed in the state which also organises local matches. Fees vary between Rs 10,000 to 1.5 to 2 lakhs for the entire season. Apart from this, the best performers get the prize money for every tournament and several gifts like tractors and motorcycles. All these expenses are borne by the promoters or organisers. Players from 15 to 36-37 years of age participate in these tournaments.

Chatha said that are over a million people associated with kabaddi tournaments worldwide directly or indirectly.

“There is a huge craze for the game among the NRIs all over world and they have teams, which comprises local Punjabi NRIs in UK, Canada and the US,” said acting president of the federation, Harjit Singh.