June 22 — ''I wish both India and Pakistan play against each other regularly and school-level players get more exposure," said Chaudhary Mohammed Ismail, grand old man of kabaddi in Pakistan, in an interview at Pinjore yesterday. He is here in connection with the forthcoming India-Pakistan kabaddi series to be organised by the Haryana Olympic Association.Ismail, who is the manager of the touring team, said kabaddi and wrestling were the most popular sport in villages of Pakistan, besides hockey. He said a cricket mania was slowly spreading among Pakistani youths. He said cricket was a game of babus.
He said the circle-style kabaddi was the real kabaddi as it required agility and intelligence in a player. He also said circle-kabaddi was the most popular in Punjab, followed by Sind and Baluchistan in Pakistan. "Faislabad is a nursery of kabaddi players and in the present team, most players are from there only," he said.
Ismail, who is now 68-year-old, has also served as a Divisional Sports Officer. He praised Mr J.P. Sharma, Secretary General of the Amateur Circle Kabaddi Federation of India, for his efforts in providing youngsters of both countries with the desired exposure.
He said in the so-called Asian style of kabaddi, one player struggled against a whole team, which was no fight as the player was prone to a lot of teasing by the opponents. He said, in Pakistan, the rural youth got a good exposure in the sport and more than 500 small tournaments were conducted in the Faislabad district alone.
Speaking in chaste Punjabi, Ismail said players were sponsored by village landlords. These landlords always remained ready to sp-end money on the winning team. "The best player of a match is usually given handsome cash prizes," he said.
Ismail said some loopholes in the rules and style of the game were plugged recently as some players had started exploiting these. ''Ismail has coached many players and even now, senior players consult him often," said Mr J.P. Sharma, Chief de Mission of the Indian kabaddi team. India will play its first match tomorrow at Panchkula as part of the Olympic Day events.
Ismail said the circle kabaddi used to be played in a ground about 500-foot wide. Gradually, the size of the ground
shrank to almost one-fourth of this.
He said, in his country, the national meet and some invitational ones like the Dera Ismail Khan Tournament, Zahoor Elahi Tournament were the reputed ones. He said in India, players of West Bengal, Chennai and UP were shaping up well in circle kabaddi, though Punjab and Haryana men were also giving them a tough fight.
Ismail said more kabaddi, wrestling and hockey matches should be held between the two countries to improve relations and cut costs incurred on providing international exposure to the youth. "I feel like touring my own country," he said.
He said in Pakistan, kabaddi players got good jobs and various government organisations like Railways and defence services employed them. He said many players even participated in club-level tournaments abroad for large sums of money. "Indians and Pakistanis settled in Canada, UK and USA invite our teams for participating in tournaments there," he said.
Ismail said physical fitness was important and many of his players were stoutly-built, besides having a good endurance level. In the touring team, some players are international sportsmen. He said it was sad that circle-kabaddi was not a part of the Asian Games.
He said 29-year-old Muhammad Ishtiaq of Pakistan was perhaps the best kabaddi player in the world.
He thanked the HOA and the Union and Haryana Governments for declaring them state guests.
