Four Kerala women to represent England at Kabaddi World Cup

Dubai: Four women kabaddi players from Kerala will be part of the England team for the Kabaddi World Cup starting next week.

The Kabaddi World Cup will be held in the West Midlands from March 17 to 23.

Athira Sunil has been named as the England team's captain while Neelima Unni Suma, Neeraja Unni Suma and Pressymol Preni are the other three who are part of the team. Mashood Koorattante and Abhijith Krishnan Thaivalappil represent the men's team.

"It wasn't an easy ride to be part of the England side," skipper Athira told Onmanorama. "We were able to get in touch with a few people with Kabaddi experience scattered across the UK. We coordinated and got together for regular practice sessions and competed in a league called British Kabaddi League (BKL).

"We faced lot of hardships since we had to travel for several hours to attend the practice sessions. But we're grateful for this opportunity," she added.

The team's coach Mathew Saju, a former England international, said: "All of them got selected through the BKL.

A resident of England since 2010, Saju, who co-owns the Nottingham Royals, a BKL franchise, was one of the first malayalis to represent England in kabaddi.

Other than hosts England, 15 other nations including India will be participating in the World Cup. In the opener, England will face off with Cameroon.