Faisalabad Division win Punjab inter-divisional kabaddi title at Punjab Stadium

Kabaddi, one of Punjab's oldest village sports, had its biggest provincial stage of 2026 at Punjab Stadium in Lahore, where Faisalabad Division emerged as inter-divisional champions after a three-day competition.

The championship

Sports Board Punjab promoted the CM Punjab Kabaddi Championship 2026 as the province's flagship kabaddi event of the year. It ran from 29 June to 1 July 2026, with an opening ceremony on the first day and the deciding matches, closing ceremony and prize distribution on 1 July. The advertised prize pool was PKR 500,000.

According to APP, a review meeting chaired by Muhammad Tariq Qureshi, Director General of the Punjab Sports and Youth Affairs Department, confirmed that accommodation, security and other arrangements for players and officials were in place on the eve of the tournament. Tahir Waheed Jutt represented the Punjab Kabaddi Association at that meeting. Officials described the event as a way to spot and promote emerging kabaddi talent across the province.

Faisalabad on top

Teams from nine of Punjab's divisions competed at Punjab Stadium. In the final, Faisalabad Division beat Sahiwal to take the title, APP reported on 3 July 2026. The published report did not set out the final score in a way that made clear which side scored which total, so it is not repeated here.

For Faisalabad, a district with a strong rural sporting base, the win is a reminder that traditional sports still have deep roots outside the provincial capital.

How teams got there

The Lahore event sat at the top of a pyramid that began weeks earlier. In Multan, for example, the Divisional Sports Office ran inter-tehsil and inter-district rounds, with players from Under-23 and open categories taking part. The final stage of the Multan Division competition was scheduled for 28 April 2026 on the hockey ground of the Divisional Sports Complex, with teams from Multan, Khanewal, Vehari and Lodhran involved and Commissioner Multan Aamir Karim Khan due as chief guest. The champions were promised cash prizes, trophies and the right to represent Multan Division in the provincial event in Lahore.

Organisers in Multan linked the competition to Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif's declaration of 2026 as the Year of Sports in Punjab, a theme that has also been used to frame investment in other sports across the province.

Why it matters

Kabaddi has a large informal following across rural Punjab, but structured competitions with a clear route from tehsil to province are less common. A pathway that starts at local level and finishes at Punjab Stadium gives village players a recognised stage and gives selectors a way to identify talent for departmental and national teams.

The next step is consistency. If Sports Board Punjab runs the same tehsil-to-province structure each year, and widens it to include more age groups and women's teams, the championship could become a reliable feeder for Pakistan's kabaddi programme rather than a single summer showcase.