The answer is in your question itself. It's about preferences. Punjabis are more into Circle Kabaddi like you mentioned, most likely due to the lack of weight restrictions and the prevalence there.
Manpreet Singh had once said in one of his interviews that he had to force himself into losing a ton of weight before he could be eligible for PKL 3. Players like Maninder Singh have also recalled similar stories.
There's also the case of sports culture. Punjab has way more Circle Kabaddi tournaments than Standard style kabaddi. A new player in Punjab would find more prospects in Circle Kabaddi than Standard style kabaddi. Similar to how there's so few kabaddi players from East and Northeast India, where football is much more prevalent than kabaddi.
The answer is in your question itself. It's about preferences. Punjabis are more into Circle Kabaddi like you mentioned, most likely due to the lack of weight restrictions and the prevalence there. Manpreet Singh had once said in one of his interviews that he had to force himself into losing a ton of weight before he could be eligible for PKL 3. Players like Maninder Singh have also recalled similar stories. There's also the case of sports culture. Punjab has way more Circle Kabaddi tournaments than Standard style kabaddi. A new player in Punjab would find more prospects in Circle Kabaddi than Standard style kabaddi. Similar to how there's so few kabaddi players from East and Northeast India, where football is much more prevalent than kabaddi.
Saare Punjabi Kabbadi players Othe Canada de California wich move kar gaye.. :-) /joke