Author: MBONILE BURTON
AfricaPress-Tanzania: UHURU Stadium of Dar es Salaam will be set ablaze on October 21st when kabaddi players will be engaged in a special competition for a place in the national men and women’s teams.
The special event set as a qualifier whose best players will be selected to form two teams for Africa Kabaddi Championship to be held at Mlimani City Mall Dar es Salaam from December 11th to 13th this year.
Tanzania Kabaddi Sports Association (TKSA) has organised the open battle after which it will unveil who deserves to play in the national men and women teams for the international matches.
Abdallah Nyoni, the TKSA chairman said players from all over the country have been training intensively for several months now since government ordered a resumption of sports activities early June after the end of coronavirus scare.
“We are organising a day-long qualifying event, it will be a platform that will give us strong national team members and invitation has been extended to all kabaddi clubs. “The national teams will enter the camp at the end of this month ready for the African meet,” he added.
Nyoni insisted the battle is open for all players from all regions of Tanzania and Zanzibar and insisted them to come forward in big numbers to showcase their skills.
“All players will have to pass through equal test, we will select them according to criteria, and there is no chance for a bias,” he explained.
The chairman further called all kabaddi teams to submit names of players early so as to be registered.
According to Nyoni, TKSA will select 32 players, with each team comprising 16 players.
Dar es Salaam has been honoured to host the event for the first time in the history under the auspices of Africa Kabaddi Confederation (AKC).
The championship will be in the national-team style for both men and women’s categories and it will be open to all AKC members.
As hosts country has been given honour to enter two teams in each category, a move that gives a chance for more youth to face international experience.
Tanzania teams will battle it out against teams from Kenya, Cameroon, Egypt, Mauritius, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
According to Nyoni, they have also received requests from England, Malaysia, Taiwan, Iraq and India whose teams applied to compete as invited guests.
