No permission given to Kabaddi players to go to Pakistan: Rijiju

New Delhi: Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday made it clear that no Indian player was given permission to travel to Pakistan to participate in the World Kabaddi Championship after a squad was seen arriving in Lahore on Sunday.

"No one has given permission to any Kabaddi player to go to Pakistan. Issuance of giving visa is the sovereign prerogative of a country, we have no role in granting visa. We'll talk to the Kabaddi federation on whether it was an informed visit or not," Kiren Rijiju said.

Earlier, the administrator of Amateur Kabbadi Federation of India (AKFI) Justice (Retd) S P Garg also said that the national body has not cleared any such team.

"We have no information about any Kabbadi team which has gone to Pakistan. No permission was ever granted by AKFI to any team to go to Pakistan and play any Kabbadi match there," he said.

"We came to know about it only after the information was sought. AKFI does not support any such activity. Legal action may be taken against the defaulters," he added.

The officials of the Pakistan Kabaddi Federation welcomed and garlanded the Indian players when they crossed into Pakistan from Wagah border from where they were taken in a security convoy to their hotel in Lahore.

All the six previous editions of the World Kabbadi Championship took place in India between 2010 and 2019.

India have won all six championships, defeating Pakistan in 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014 editions.

The winner of the tournament will get 10 million rupees, while the runner ups will get 7.5 million rupees.