Wolverhampton has 6 team members in the England Kabaddi team, and the World Cup is coming to Wolverhampton.

Express & Star

Kabaddi is a fun sport, akin to bulldog you may of played in the playground, and the World Cup is coming to Wolverhampton. We chat to the coach of Wolverhamptons Wolfpack team as the England team train, 6 of which of from the Wolverhampton squad.

Transcript

00:00My name is Ranjit Singh, I'm head coach of Wolverhampton Wrestling Club and the Women's Wolfpack Kabaddi Team.

00:07Kabaddi? Now, that name rings a bell. What is Kabaddi? Describe it to me, Ranjit.

00:12Kabaddi is a mix between, I would say, sports like wrestling, British Bulldog, let's say.

00:20That used to be played in all the playgrounds around everywhere from school days.

00:24It's kind of a mix between there, but it's a lot to do with actual teamwork.

00:29You have to gel together as a team, where you've got a radar coming in.

00:35I was going to say, talk us through the basic, you start off with two teams either side of a match, is that right?

00:41Yeah, so you've got seven players on each side. One radar comes from one team.

00:45Comes to score a point by either getting the bonus line or actually touching any one or as many players as possible

00:53and getting back to the centre line to score a point.

00:55But if the defensive team takes them down and keeps them there and not being able to get back to the line,

01:02then they score the points and plus that radar is out.

01:06Now that sounds very simple, but I educated myself earlier on today and was watching a bit of videos of some Kabaddi games.

01:14It's really tricky, isn't it? To get in amongst a group and tag someone while their team are already starting to come round,

01:20you're ready for the tackle. It's not easy, is it, to get points?

01:23No, no, not easy. It becomes a very tactical game where you have to manoeuvre as a team to obviously stop the radar from achieving their point.

01:33But yeah, it's quite a fun game at the same time as a very competitive game, let's say.

01:41So Kabaddi World Cup, when's it happening?

01:44So it starts on the 17th of March and until the 24th.

01:49The opening ceremony and the first matches of both England's men and women's are held at Audsley Stadium

01:55and the finals are actually at the Civic Hall.

01:57That's it? It's all happening in the Midlands, isn't it? Like you say, with that big fire at the Civic.

02:01That's a great coup for Wolverhampton, isn't it?

02:03Yeah, it's massive. It's the first time the event's left Asia.

02:06So to bring it to the Midlands and Wolverhampton itself hosting the finals is a huge achievement.

02:15So you're from the wrestling club. Today we've got the Ladies England team here doing the training

02:21and there's a few of them from your club, I believe.

02:24Yeah, we have six in the England squad playing at the World Cup.

02:28Having only taken the sport on a year ago, it's a massive achievement for the women in the team.

02:35Well, also for yourself and the club, I mean, you know, that speaks volumes of what you've been doing there.

02:39Well done.

02:40Yeah, thank you.

02:41And I think the most important thing is that we are all based locally,

02:45so we form this team from the local community itself.

02:49And if people wanted to get involved, when do they train then with you?

02:53So we have six days of training.

02:55Yeah?

02:56Yeah, at three different venues, three different academies, which are our own.

03:02And so if you just search on the net, Wolverhampton Wrestling Club, you get to our social media

03:08and we can inform you of all the training.

03:10But we're based at the Cantercrow C Cawdorra in Wolverhampton and that's our main base.

03:15Awesome. Well, well done for getting six into the team.

03:18And good luck, Ladies England. Let's get them to the final at the Wolves Civic.

03:22Thank you, Ranjit.

03:24So go on, ladies, introduce yourselves. What are your names?

03:27My name is Manpreet Kaur.

03:29My name is Iman Siddiqui.

03:30So you're both Wolverhampton?

03:32Yes.

03:33And you remember Ranjit's wrestling club, are you?

03:35Yes.

03:36So what do you enjoy about Kabaddi? I mean, I'm watching it. It just makes me smile, basically.

03:40But what is it you'd say you enjoy about it?

03:43I'd say everything, to be fair. It's very exciting.

03:46It's a teamwork. It's hard work. It's sweat.

03:50So you just have to work all together for the best results.

03:53Yeah.

03:54So I'd say I'd keep it short, sweet.

03:56Yeah. About yourself?

03:57I think for me, I think it's just passion. Watching my dad grow up playing it.

04:00So that gives me passion to play.

04:02To go home and tell him, I did this, and he'd turn around and be like, well, that's wrong.

04:06And six people from Wolves in the England team. It's good going, isn't it?

04:11Right, well, let your crack on then, girls. Thank you.

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