Indian men’s, women’s teams look to defend titles at Kabaddi World Cup 2025

LONDON: Both the men’s and women’s Indian teams will be defending their titles at the Kabaddi World Cup 2025, starting from Monday in England.

As per Olympics.com, the tournament will be held across four cities, Birmingham, Coventry, Walsall and Wolverhampton – in the West Midlands region of the United Kingdom.

The men’s Kabaddi World Cup will feature 10 teams split into a group of two, with Hungary, England, Poland, Germany, and USA forming Group A and India in Group B alongside Italy, Scotland, Wales and Hong Kong. India will kickstart their campaign against Italy on Monday.

After their single-headed round-robin games, the top four teams from each group will make it to the quarterfinals starting from March 21 onwards.

The battle for kabaddi glory heads to England! Are you ready for the Kabaddi World Cup 2025?

March 17-23 4 PM onwards..

Watch LIVE on DD Sports #kabaddiworldcup2025 pic.twitter.com/tSHfsouwyQ

— Doordarshan Sports (@ddsportschannel) March 17, 2025

Coming to the women’s team, it will be a six-team affair, with two groups of three, D and E. Group D will feature India with Wales and Poland while Group E is made by Hong Kong, Hungary and England. Indian women’s team will kickstart their campaign against Wales on Tuesday.

The top two teams from each group will make it to the semifinals starting from March 21 onwards. The losing semifinalists in men’s and women’s competitions will battle for the third-place in a playoffs clash on March 23 and March 22 respectively.

This is the second Kabaddi World Cup hosted by World Kabaddi. In the inaugural tournament back in 2019 held in Malaysia, India captured the both men’s and women’s titles by defeating Iraq and Chinese Taipei respectively.

The International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) also hosts a separate tournament, also titled the Kabaddi World Cup. The 2025 edition of the tournament will be the first Kabaddi World Cup ever to be held outside Asia. All IKF Kabaddi World Cup tournaments have been organised in India. (ANI)