Ludhiana, April 3
While crores of rupees have been spent by organisers to make the World Kabaddi Cup a success, nothing on ground has been done to ensure jobs for these players, who are jobless despite being armed with degrees.

Their plight came to the fore on Saturday when the Indian Kabaddi team captain Mangat Singh aka Mangi Bagga said all 14 players participating in the tournament, that took off at Patial today, are looking for jobs.

To make matters worse, barring a few, most of the players don’t have required education qualification for a decent job.

While Gulzar Singh, who dreams to be a physical education teacher after completing his graduation, is pursuing a Diploma in Physical Education from Patiala, his teammates Kushdip Singh Dirba and Narinder Singh Bittu are preparing for their BA final exams.

The players said earlier Punjab Mandi Board, Punjab State Electricity Board and Punjab Police were the main employers, but now they are going slow on appointments. Though NRIs and private academies have made the game attractive by pumping in a lot of money, the hard fact remains that the moolah is there till the player is physically fit. “Once an injury happens, his career is practically over and he has to spend rest of his life in penury,” said Mangat Singh.

“We are like gladiators. Till the time we have power in our muscles, we fight and earn money, but once we reach the fag end of our career, we have to look for menial jobs,” he added.

“The Punjab government earned accolades after getting the Circle Style approved from the sports department but they have done precious little to open the job avenues for players,” rued the Captain.