Pakistani Army Duo makes history in PKL

2 min read
Back in 2014, when the Pro Kabaddi (PKL) had just started, two Pakistani army men — Waseem Sajjad and Wajid Ali played in the competition.

The relations between India and Pakistan are no secret to anyone in the world, and that has affected the sporting ties between the two as well. Cricket is the prime example, where there has been no IND vs PAK bilateral series in the longest time. Pro Kabaddi or the PKL hasn’t been untouched by the sour relationship between the two countries.

Initially, when the PKL was launched, quite a few Pakistani players did feature in the Pro Kabaddi, but subsequently, with mounting tensions, their participation completely stopped. The last time a Pakistani took the mat in the PKL was way back in 2015. But did you know, there were a couple of Pakistani players, who were from the Pak Army and played in the competition.

The two men were all-rounders Waseem Sajjad and Wajid Ali. While Sajjad played for Patna Pirates in 2014 & 2015, Ali was a part of the Telugu Titans. Sajjad, in fact did have decent performances for his team in his first season, accumulating 27 points in 15 matches. His next season was completely ineffective, where he played two matches without scoring any points. On the other hand, Ali could not come up with any notable performance in his four appearances and scored only 5 points.

Then after being overlooked by the Pro Kabaddi, Waseem Sajjad announced his retirement in 2019. He also represented Pakistan at the Asian Games level too, but never won a gold medal.

Looking Forward to PKL 2023

Pro Kabaddi 2023 will start from December 2, and all the teams and players would be looking to make the most of the opportunity. Each team will play the other teams twice in the competition, across 12 different venues in the league, before moving into the playoffs. This year, the first match will be played between Gujarat Giants and Telugu Titans at Ahmedabad.

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