16 teams for Kabaddi World cup

Hyderabad, Jan 23 (UNI) Sixteen teams will take part in the three-day second Kabaddi World Cup to be held at Panvel, Mumbai, starting tomorrow.

Informing this, Amateur Kabbadi Federation of India (AKFI) general secretary Jagadishwar Yadav told UNI that the tournament would be conducted in league-cum-knockout system.

Sixteen teams would be divided into four pools and top two teams would enter the quarterfinals.

India, winner of first World Cup held at Mumbai in 2004 is favourite to retain the title, while Iran, runner-up in the previous edition and third placed Bangladesh and Pakistan were expected to put up good show at the tourney.

The mega event would be conducted by Karnala Sports Academy under the auspices of Maharastra Ametuer Kabaddi Association, AKFI, Asian Amateur Kabaddi Federation and Indian Kabbadi Federation.

For the first time mats would be used in outdoor floodlight courts.

Pool-A : India, Srilanka, Kyrgystan, Turkmanistan Pool-B : Iran, Nepal, United Kingdom, South Korea Pool-C : Bangladesh, Thailand, Japan, Afghanistan Pool-D : Pakistan, Malaysia, West Indies, Italy.

UNI