National invitation kabaddi tournament: AP men, women teams win their first matches against Bihar

Tirupati: All roads led to Indira Maidanam, the venue of the five day 'Tirupati Corporation Gold Cup All India Invitation Men & Women Kabaddi Tournament' on Wednesday. Deputy CM K Narayana Swamy, MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy, MLC Y Srinivasulu Reddy and others were introduced to the players of both the teams before the start of the match. In their inaugural matches AP men and women teams defeated their rivals teams easily.

AP Men's team defeated Bihar team by 54-21 points while AP Women's team also defeated Bihar women's team by 44-23 points. In other matches Himachal Pradesh men's team won against YMCA, Faridabad team with 75-25 points whereas Rajasthan women's team defeated Kerala with 39-18 points.

Earlier, several activities had taken place since morning at the grounds ahead of the inaugural function that took place in the evening. The Indira Maidanam and its surrounding areas were filled with josh for the whole day and the title song specially recorded for the purpose reverberated in the loudspeakers.

MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy distributed T-shirts and ID cards to all players, coaches and team managers. Mayor R Sirisha said all arrangements have been completed and no team member will face any difficulty. Arjuna awardee C Honappa advised the players to maintain discipline. Commissioner PS Girisha said the players and team managers were provided sanitisers and masks and were asked to follow Covid guidelines.

At the inaugural function, Padma Bhushan awardee Pullela Gopichand formally launched the proceedings while all the dignitaries on the stage have released doves and balloons. The cultural events attracted the spectators.

Meanwhile, a total of 42 teams have reached Tirupati to participate in the tournament out of which 24 are men's teams and 18 are women's teams. They participated in the march past at the beginning. These teams were divided into four pools A, B, C and D to conduct matches in the league system. The first matches in both men and women wings were played between AP and Bihar teams.