The Dark Farce of Indian Kabaddi

The Delhi High Court's order, as interpreted by the petitioners against the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI), mandated that the Asian Games teams (men and women) would play against two teams selected from a pool of players across the country. The exercise was to ascertain the authenticity of the original  selection procedure of the Asiad squads. The matches were supposed to be held at the KD Jadhav Wrestling Hall in New Delhi on September 15. What played out, though, was a charade — the Asiad teams didn't turn up and no matches were held. The AKFI, meanwhile, held trails — with junior players mostly from the Delhi NCR region —  to present a picture that they were complying with the court's order. The petitioners — C Honnappa Gowda and S Rajrathanam — and the lawyers cried foul, while the athletes silently suffered the indignity of playing the role of pawns in the power struggle.