Former kabaddi players defend AKFI president

Former India kabaddi players today shot off a letter to Sports Minister Jitendra Singh, requesting his office to initiate an inquiry into the "false charges" made by Arjuna awardee Ashan Kumar against Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) president, Janardhan Singh.
The letter, signed by nine Arjuna awardees and Asian Games gold medallists, alleged that Kumar, formerly the coach of Iran during the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, has an "ulterior motive" to dethrone India from the top position in Kabaddi world.
"Right from the day of his return from Iran, he wanted to become the coach of the Indian team and is still trying to be the Government observer. His ulterior motive is to ensure that India is toppled from its top position in Kabaddi," the letter stated.

"Ashan Kumar was the coach of the Iran team during the 16th Asian Games. Iran won silver medal in men's section and bronze in women's section having lost their respective matches to India. During the matches, Kumar was found using abusive language against the Indians and often picked up fights with our coaches. This clearly showed the intention of Kumar.
"We had reasons to believe that Kumar was part of the Iranian conspiracy to ensure gold medal from India was snatched by hook or crook as they had so far failed in doing so at the field of play by legitimate means," it was alleged in the letter.

The outburst by former India internationals came in response to allegations levelled by Kumar that Singh got his wife, Mridul Bhadauria, elected as the federation chief through illegal means in the annual general meeting and elections of office bearers in Jaipur recently.
Kumar had also written a letter to the Sports Minister and demanded an immediate inquiry into alleged "hijacking" of by Singh.