Metro Punjabi Sports Club

r exhibition of kabaddi much to the delight of expatriate Punjabi's. As the communities started to grow larger so did the number of these non-profit organized sports festivals. The highlight of these festivals from a crowd participation perspective would always be kabaddi. Metro Punjabi Sports Club widely known to the Greater Toronto Punjabi Community in the 70’s 80’s and early 90’s as Rexdale Kabaddi Club had a vision to elevate kabaddi to an international level. It was in 1990 when Mr. Sarvan Singh Bal during his visit to Canada, shared this idea of an International tournament. In December 1990, on the occasion of Christmas party hosted by Rexdale Kabaddi Club, the words of Mr. Sarvan Singh Bal were announced. Sarvan Singh Bal's words were out, to host a World Kabaddi Cup after the New Year. In 1991, the Rexdale Kabaddi Club changed it's name to Metro Punjabi Sports & Culture Club of Canada, gathered their resources and relied on the support of the business community to put together the very first international kabaddi tournament in the world, outside of India. The Punjabi community of Toronto had never imagined that kabaddi would evolve to become a highly competitive and professional sport in Canada and for that matter around the world. There were many obstacles to overcome for Metro Punjabi Sports Club in introducing an international level exposure to the game. Through community networking in many cities from around the world, support of the Indo-Canadian business community, kabaddi organizers around the world and political leaders; Metro Punjabi Sports Club was successful in creating a legacy for hosting international scale kabaddi tournaments in Toronto. The first event of Kabaddi Canada Cup on Saturday August 10th 1991 was covered by wide Mainstream Media including, CTV, CBC, and McLean Magazine. Teams from Canada East (Ontario), Canada West (British Columbia), India, England, Scotland and USA gathered at Varsity Stadium downtown Toronto, Ontario. The opening ceremony was done in grand style and mocked a typical official sporting event with the national anthem being played, formal team introductions, ribbon cutting ceremony to name few. The fans loved every minute of the 8 hour event day. Children were entertained by clowns and a Bhangra group while parents were exposed some of the greatest kabaddi talent around the world. The introduction of paid performance, the country that contributed the most towards recruiting paid talent had the greatest chance to win. At the end of the day, USA and their business community brought the best players and was the winning team of Kabaddi Canada Cup, 1991. The final match was a thrilling exhibition between the paid Indian stars of USA and the home bread unpaid team representing India. The fans being Indian expatriates were cheering on India in an extremely close final match. There was so much excitement in the air that they showered a relatively unknown player from India, Angrez Singh (Billa from Faridkot) for his relentless attacks and earning of points ag*inst a world class stop line from USA. The precedent was set by Metro Punjabi Sports Club through the Kabaddi Canada Cup to bring a rural sport from Punjab to become a high stake professional sport- providing many poor athletes from India an opportunity to be overnight celebrities and become wealthy. Hundreds of players have Metro Punjabi Sports Club to thank for enabling them to be wealthy sports star in India and in the global Indian communities. Metro Punjabi Sports Club held two more consecutive Kabaddi Cups in 1992 and 1993. Both times USA took the cup. Seeing that three World Kabaddi Cup Tournaments being held by Metro Punjabi Sports Club, an Ontario Kabaddi Federation was formed. Consisting of two members from each Kabaddi team, the group decides to spread each World Cup Kabaddi Tournament each year giving Metro Punjabi Sports Club recognition and a break for their hard work. In 1999, after many years of other Ontario-based kabaddi clubs hosting events; Metro Punjabi Sports Club was given the opportunity by the Ontario Kabaddi Federation to host the World Kabaddi Canada Cup. Once ag*in, the members and volunteers of this club set a new stage for kabaddi. For the first time, Judo mats were used to play on an indoor service. These mats provided much better support and balance without injury than previously held indoor kabaddi tournaments that were played on carpet foam surfaces. Unlike ever before, the club introduced each player with a brief bio individually for the benefit of the fans. A time clock highlighting seconds left per raid increased the level of excitement for fans. A mixture of pumping music bits with live color commentary was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. Team Canada beat England convincingly in the 1999 finals.




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