MAHBUBABAD (WARANGAL): Gudumba addiction almost consumed the life of a national kabaddi player who took to working at construction sites and other petty jobs for survival.
The player, Kambalapalli Venkanna, was adopted by the police and has now been given a job as kabaddi coach in Mahbubabad division.
DSP Nagaraju said the police will pay him and will organise kabaddi camps and Venkanna will be the coach. Venkanna was known as ‘Kabaddi Venkanna’ in his Kambalapalli village during the 1990s. He participateed in 26 national tournaments and represented Kakatiya University thrice as captain.
But he disappeared after retiring from the game. He got addicted to alcohol and neglected his life and family. Doing petty jobs for survival, he got badly addicted to gudumba in the last six years. Recently, after the village banned the sale and production of ID liquor, he decided to lead a normal life.
After coming to know about Venkanna, DSP Nagaraju declared that the police will take care of him. "We want him to be an inspiration to society. We want to prove that there is a life beyond gudumba," DSP Nagaraju said.
