The inaugural edition of the Junior Kabaddi World Championship was won by Iran, who defeated Kenya in the final.
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India have announced their squad for the Junior Kabaddi World Championship 2023. The tournament is scheduled to take place from February 26 to March 5, 2023. Urmia, Iran will host the second edition of the competition. The teams which are participating in this edition are Iran, Iraq, Kenya, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Taiwan, India, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Syria, Uganda, Germany, Estonia, and Azerbaijan. The inaugural edition of the world cup was won by Iran, who defeated Kenya in the final.
Narender Kandola and Ankush Rathee will be pivotal in India’s inaugural campaign. Both had outstanding seasons in the recently finished Pro Kabaddi League. Ankush, who played for the Jaipur Pink Panthers, was named the tournament’s best defender. When playing corner, the youngster displayed some impressive abilities. His primary starting position was the left corner, from which he pursued the majority of right-side raiders. With 195 raids, Narender was the fourth best raider and served as the Tamil Thalaivas’ go-to man in times of crisis. Manjeet Sharma had a strong start to the PKL 9 season but couldn’t carry on the momentum. It will be a fantastic opportunity for the youngsters to showcase their abilities with PKL 10 being right around the corner.
Anup Kumar and Sanjeev Baliyan are the respective head coach and assistant coach. Thirty players initially signed up for a camp in Gujarat, but only 15 made the final cut of whom 12 were chosen for the starting lineup and the remaining three for the backup squad. India will be making its first appearance at the U20 Championships. It is crucial to note that India did not send a team in the first edition of the competition. In 2019, there were 14 participating nations.
Read more: Pro Kabaddi League 2022, Jaipur Pink Panthers: Full Squad, Retained Players, Auction Buys
Since the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) has established itself among the major Indian sports competitions. The Pro Kabaddi League’s ninth season, which just ended, had a cumulative reach of 222 million viewers, an increase of 17.5% over the 2021 figures after a disappointing season eight. The first season drew 43.5 crores (435 million) viewers, trailing only behind the 2014 edition of the Indian Premier League’s 55.2 crores (552 million).
Narender Kandola, Jai Bhagwan, Manjeet Sharma, Manu Deshwal, Abhijit Malik, Sagar Kumar,
Ankush Rathee, Ashish Malik, Sachin, Rohit Kumar, Vijyanth Jaglan, and Yogesh Dahiya
Reserves – Partheek Dahiya, Vinay Redhu, and Ashish
Raiders – Manjeet Sharma, Narender Kandola, Jai Bhagwan, Abhijit Malik, Manu Deshwal
Defenders – Sachin, Ankush Rathee, Rohit Kumar, Ashish Malik, Vijyanth Jaglan, Yogesh Dahiya
All-rounder- Sagar Kumar
Read more: Pro Kabaddi League 2022: Teams which have qualified for the Playoffs
