MEET another England skipper called Harry aiming for international glory — and it’s on his home turf of Wolverhampton!
Three Lions captain Harry Kane’s attempts to bring football home have ended in heartbreak in recent years.
The World Cup is coming to the Midlands over the next week[/caption]
But now namesake ‘Harry’ Hardeep Singh is aiming to go one better with England at the Paddy Power Kabaddi World Cup.
The tournament, the first World Cup outside Asia, is being held at four venues across the West Midlands.
But the medals will be decided in Singh’s home town of Wolverhampton – which is also the setting for England’s curtain-raiser in the competition tomorrow.
Reigning champions and kabaddi superpower India are among the teams standing between the hosts and glory.
But 32-year-old Singh told SunSport: “Not many people get the opportunity to play a World Cup in their own country – let alone in their home town!
“We want to show other countries that England’s here to win it and we’re not just here to participate.
“Once you have home advantage, then you have to go for the win.
“Hopefully we can bring it home now!”
Singh wants to see kabaddi become a major sport – and maybe even one day earn a place at the Commonwealth Games.
The England skipper is confident that boost can come from a World Cup on English soil, with the game already the second-most popular in India.
Singh, 32, said: “This is a great chance to showcase the sport to the youth.
“We want to try to show a new set of fans the physical aspects of kabaddi – but also the camaraderie and unity it brings to people.
“Hopefully hosting the World Cup sparks conversation on how we can grow it in the UK and also rival the best like India.
“It’s a grassroots sport in India. Unfortunately, it’s not here in the UK at the moment.
“But now we’ve had three British Kabaddi League seasons, the European Cups, and there are university sides playing it.
“We really want to grow the sport and try to get more people involved.
What is kabbadi?
IN kabaddi, it is not only the spectators who hold their breath in key moments as the players duck, dive and dodge.
The sport is played on a 13 metres by 10m court with either team of seven players occupying half that as their own territory. The object of the game is simple enough.
In attack, a single player from one team must ‘raid’ the enemy half and ‘tag’ opponents – with a point awarded for each defender tagged should the raider return to their own half successfully.
The time limit for each raid is however long the raider can hold their breath which is where the “Kabaddi, Kabaddi” chant comes in.
The attacker must continually chant until either they reach back to their own half or are tackled - ending the raid.
Defenders, meanwhile, must stop the raider by either tackling them to the ground, pushing them out of bounds, or keeping them within their half until the attacking player runs out of breath — gaining the defending team a point.
Any defender successfully tagged and any raider successfully stopped are taken out of the game.
However, they can be ‘revived’ by each point gained in subsequent defensive or offensive plays.
“Hopefully, kabaddi can be added into the Commonwealth Games one day.
“We’re looking forward to playing against high-calibre athletes you see on TV – and probably think you’ll never face in real life.
“So, we can’t wait, especially if we can perform well.
“Fingers crossed the stadiums will be packed with support and they can be the eighth man on the pitch.”
From nine-to-five, defender Singh earns a living as a medical sales rep.
But he juggles that with his two great passions: freestyle wrestling and kabaddi – in which he stars in the British Kabaddi League for the Birmingham Bulls.
With this sport you need brute strength, agility and speed. But it’s also a game of strategy as well.
Hardeep Singh
He joked: “I’ve had to use five days of annual leave to play in a World Cup!
“I usually train twice a day with work in between it all.
“Typically, it’s 6am starts in the gym and then off to work before getting back to it in the evenings to train with the lads.
“It has to be a morning and night because of the various work needed.
“With this sport you need brute strength, agility and speed. But it’s also a game of strategy as well.
“It’s extremely difficult to balance work life, family life, and then also your sports life as well – especially when I’ve been training for wrestling too.
“But I work in sales, where you have to be able to juggle things, so that’s helped a lot!”
Luckily for Singh, his entire family are hooked on the sport as much as he is.
He grinned: “My wife is really into the sport and my grandmother’s a really big enthusiast.
“They’re always there watching the matches. Everyone really supports us.
“That’s the best thing about it. Everyone supports the team and it’s a close-knit group who have played together for a number of years now.
“We play for the badge and for each other.”
Singh has wrestled for 13 years – but that is not the only pathway into kabaddi for England’s stars.
He explained: “Some are from wrestling or a pure kabaddi background, but you get others from rugby or jiu jitsu.
“All of those really help in this sport, 100 per cent.”
It is just four years since Singh took up kabaddi, but he has quickly established himself among England’s elite.
He was a BKL runner-up with Glasgow Unicorns in his first season before switching to the Bulls, going one better with them the following year.
And becoming a European champion in 2022 was another big highlight.
He added: “I remember my wrestling coach saying, ‘We’ve been approached by Glasgow, what do you think?’
“My first thought was it looks like running and wrestling.
“When I first started, I didn’t know anything about the sport but then I did a lot of research into it and things just built from there.”
Organisers now hope bringing the tournament to England will help grow the sport and inspire a new generation of fans.
Singh said: “It’s been a rollercoaster and hopefully we can add the World Cup into the England history books.”
