On Sunday 11th July 2021 in Moseley, Birmingham, EKU hosted their first Kabaddi tournament, and the first Kabaddi tournament to be hosted in the UK post Covid. Players attended from a wide range of universities including University of Birmingham, University of Manchester, Imperial College London, Kings College London, London School of Economics and Warwick University. Individuals from England Men's Kabaddi Team also participated.
The format
Four teams were formed and put into one group with matches played in a round robin format. The team finishing in first place in the group would be declared the winner! The four teams were Manchester, Birmingham, Imperial, and a Mixed team (KCL, LSE & Warwick).
The action
The first match that took place was between Manchester and Birmingham. Despite Birmingham containing England team players Keshav and Vinay it was Manchester that came out on top by 29-50 thanks to impressive performances from Henry and Kishan!
The subsequent match saw Birmingham take on the Mixed team. Unfortunately George suffered a hand injury which meant Birmingham required a change in line up. Get well soon George! Despite the setback it was Birmingham that romped home victors winning 29-7.
Manchester carried their good form into the next match against Imperial and won comprehensively 16-48! Imperial were clearly warming up and lacked some cohesion with better performances later in the tournament!
The penultimate match was between the Mixed team and Manchester. This was a very tense affair, and Manchester were visibly tired from their previous encounter! The mixed team played well with Taaher and Tom chipping in with some great raiding but in the end Manchester came out winners! The whole Manchester team put in a strong performance to end the tournament unbeaten!
The final match was between Imperial and the Mixed team. This one went right down to the wire with the match ending in a draw! It was decided that the match would go into extra time that was 5 minutes long. Despite some awesome raiding from Parm and Milan from Imperial it was the Mixed team's defence that came out on top, with the final score 35-34!
NB: The match between Imperial and Birmingham was forfeited by Birmingham due to injury and lack of players.
The result
The tournament winners were of course Manchester with a well drilled and impressive performance ending the tournament unbeaten! Congratulations Manchester! We look forward to welcoming you all back for our next tournament.
Sar me KABADDi join Karna Chahta