Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship: India open against England and Malaysia as 13 Nations chase inaugural titles

From October 23 to 31, 23 squads from 13 nations will contest 62 matches, 39 mens and 23 womens, starting with Kenya vs Singapore in Mens Group B at 11:00 AM.

The 13 mens teams are split into a seven-team Group A (India, Nigeria, Malaysia, Uganda, England, Tanzania, Sri Lanka) and a six-team Group B (Bangladesh, Kenya, Canada, Australia, Scotland, Singapore).

The 10 womens teams play in two groups of five: India, Singapore, Nigeria, Uganda and Malaysia in Group A, and Bangladesh, Kenya, England, Scotland and Sri Lanka in Group B. Every team plays the others in its group once, and the top two advance. Group A winners meet Group B runners-up in the semifinals, and vice versa.

Captain Surjeet Singh and vice-captain Naveen Kumar lead a 14-man squad that also includes Yogesh Dahiya, Shubham Shinde, Deepak Sankar, Nitesh Kumar, Parvesh Bhainswal, Ajit Pawar, Sachin Tanwar, Pankaj Mohite, Bharat Hooda, Shivam Patare, Neeraj Narwal and Aditya Shinde. After England on Friday, India face Uganda (October 24), Malaysia (October 25), Nigeria (October 26), Tanzania (October 27) and Sri Lanka (October 29), all at 8:30 PM.

Nidhi Sharma captains Indias women, with Ritu as vice-captain, in a 14-strong squad that includes Muskan Sharma, Sabhai Gadhavi, Priya, Champa Thakur, Riya Kumari, Suman Sahu, Jyothi, Ritu Mitharwal, Renuka Choudhary, Simran Kamboj, Anu Sen, Sakshi and Karthika Ramesh. After Malaysia, they meet Singapore (October 24), Uganda (October 25) and Nigeria (October 26), all at 6:45 PM. The womens group stage ends on October 28.

The semifinals are on Friday, October 30: the women at 6:00 PM and 6:45 PM, and the men at 8:30 PM and 9:30 PM. The finals follow on Saturday, October 31, with the women at 7:30 PM and the men at 9:00 PM, under the theme One Breath. One Raid. One Commonwealth. (ANI)