AKFI and State kabaddi bodies wash hands of U.P. food-at-toilet incident

A purported video of the incident showed cooked food was stored in the toilet at Saharanpur's Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Stadium from where kabaddi players took it themselves

The national Kabaddi Federation on September 21 washed its hands of the incident where the players at a State-level tournament were served food from a toilet, saying it was not, in any way, involved in the staging of the girls' event in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur.

The kabaddi players competing at the U-16 event were served food that was kept in a toilet, prompting the authorities to suspend the district sports officer for laxity and blacklisting the caterer.

The incident created a furore as politicians condemned the shabby treatment meted out to the players.

"The Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India [AKFI] has no role in the organisation of the tournament. It was purely an Uttar Pradesh Government-related event. They [organisers] have done their own arrangement," S.P. Garg, the Delhi High Court-appointed administrator who has been running AKFI since 2018, told PTI.

Asked how a State-level tournament can happen without sanction from the national federation, he said, "We are in no way involved in the organisation of the tournament. Humara koi lene dena nahin hey [we have no concern with that]. We had no information [about the tournament]."

U.P. State Kabaddi Association secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said the tournament was not sanctioned by the AKFI nor by the State unit. He said the event was not in its annual calendar.

"The tournament was organised by the State Government's sports department. Our role was to provide only technical support. We sent some officials to conduct the event and the selection committee, nothing else," Mr. Singh said.