Rajgir to host second Women’s Kabaddi World Cup in June

NEW DELHI: The Women’s Kabaddi World Cup 2025 will be held from June 1 to 10 in Rajgir, Bihar, confirmed the Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Tuesday.

This will be Bihar’s second time hosting the women’s Kabaddi World Cup. The first edition of the competition was held in Patna, at the Patliputra Sports Complex in 2012, as per Olympics.com.

The traditional Indian sport is one of the oldest worldwide and has a history of over 4,000 years and it was showcased as an exhibition sport on the sidelines of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

The tournament will be conducted by the International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) in conjunction with the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) and will witness 14 teams, including teams from Africa and Latin America in the 10-day tournament.

𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐊𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐂𝐮𝐩 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐁𝐢𝐡𝐚𝐫!

Rajgir is all set to host the Women’s Kabaddi World Cup 2025 from June 1-10, featuring 14 teams around the globe. This marks Bihar’s second time hosting this prestigious event.

Let the countdown… pic.twitter.com/z8YcaoRXRc

— SAI Media (@Media_SAI) April 15, 2025

Aside from India, Iran, Bangladesh, Netherlands, Japan, Poland, Uganda, Kenya, Hungary, Thailand, Nepal, Germany and Argentina are other teams to have confirmed their participation in the tournament.

A total of 16 teams played the first women’s kabaddi World Cup, with 31 matches played within a span of four days. The format included round-robin group stage matches before the knockout stage. The format for the second edition is yet to be announced.

Hosts India are the defending champions, having beaten Iran in the final to win the inaugural women’s Kabaddi World Cup by 25-19. Japan and Thailand finished joint-third after losses in their respective semi-final matches.

The Indian women’s kabaddi team was last in action during March’s Asian Women’s Kabaddi Championship 2025 in Tehran and won the competition by beating Iran in the final by 32-25. (ANI)