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A 2018 internal Immigration Department report, obtained under an access to information request, says “Kabaddi players applying through Chandigarh (Canada’s visa office in the capital of the Punjab region) are typically young, single, unsalaried males with limited economic prospects in their country.”

The report acknowledges that it’s hard to control abuse of Canada’s quick-entry program for the players, which is managed by three large kabaddi clubs in Canada.

“It is difficult to gauge a player’s skill or standing in the sport as there is no formal structure. … Misrepresentation and fraudulent documentation are a matter of concern.”

Given that the past decade has featured intermittent controversy over bringing kabaddi athletes to Canada, Surrey-based radio talk-show host Harjit Singh Gill said Friday that many Indo-Canadians are “disgusted” with the government’s leaky sports-visa program. “Everybody knows about this in the Punjab. Most of the athletes who apply to come here to play kabaddi know they’re not going back.”

The internal report said that of the 261 players who entered Canada between 2014 and 2017, only about half returned to India. Twenty-six per cent were somehow able to obtain work permits (which are easier to apply for in Canada than in India), 21 per cent can’t be traced at all and a few made inland refugee claims.

The Hindustan Times, a one-million circulation English language daily in India, is among the publications that have reported Canada’s kabaddi-player visa program is often supported by Canadian politicians as a vote-getter, since several thousand fans often show up to enjoy each game. Many have loosely compared kabaddi to a combination of wrestling and rugby, featuring frequent dislocated joints or broken bones.