The Takanini Sri Kalgidhar Sahib Gurdwara at the New Zealand Sikh Society complex was the venue of some of world’s best kabaddi players in the weekend of November 25-26. The event was originally planned to be held on 18 & 19 November but had to be rescheduled to the following week due to the adverse weather conditions in that week.
The organisers were busy in preparation of the World cup event for last many months to create the facilities fit for a World Cup event. The Sikh Stadium officially opened as part of the World Cup, complete with seating for 2500, though groundsman Sukhjap Singh said temporary extra seating were added on the event day. More than 15000 people from different walks of life attended the two days event. Some of the finest Kabaddi players from New Zealand, USA, Australia, Canada, India, and Pakistan took part in the tournament. The Australian team was victorious beating the team from USA in the finals. The local New Zealand team was beaten in the semifinals by the USA team. The best stopper and best raider awards went to Pindu Seechewal and Jashan Alamghir, respectively. Around 105 players from 6 countries took part in the two-day event.
The Sports Complex (NZSSC) President Dilraj Kaur said this is first stadium dedicated to Kabaddi that is built outside India and its opening is an important symbol of our commitment to cultural diversity and inclusiveness. She said the stadium symbolises sportsmanship and cultural pride. It’s a state -of-the-art facility which is a testament to the community’s dedication to promoting sports and togetherness. She said she is very impressed and pleased with the large turnout of people to the event and grateful to the attendees for their wholehearted support and words of appreciation for their efforts. She further said the overwhelming response from community is making them plan to organise the tournament annually. NZSSC is the sports wing of the Supreme Sikh Society of New Zealand, and an entirely youth team is looking after all the sports affairs. All members part of this team are New Zealand born and heavily involved in organising sports events like this one and all office bearers including President, Secretary and the Treasurer are young girls.
Takanini Gurdwara was opened on 13th March 2005 by the then Prime Minister Helen Clark and later the sports complex was added to it in year 2021. The sports complex opening ceremony event was attended by more than 15000 people at that time. The entire complex of Takanini Gurdwara is spread on an 8.6-acre land area on Takanini School Road in Takanini, Auckland. The Sikh temple played a vital role during the Covid pandemic, doing food and grocery distribution to the needy for several months and the sports complex was developed keeping community in mind. Papakura Local Board Chairman Brent Catchpole says the area would be poorer without the Gurdwara. “We talk about diversity; the temple personifies it. The doors are always open for everyone, and it continues to feed people across the city and its always there in times of crisis
”-TIN Bureau