WHAT IS KABADDI ?

 

Although accounts of kabaddi appear in the histories of India, the game was popularized as a competitive sport in the 20th century. Points are scored for each player tagged by the rider, while the opposing team earns a point for stopping the raider. Kabaddi is a contact team sport played between two teams of seven players, originating in ancient India. The objective is for a single player on offence, referred to as a "raider", to run into the opposing team's half of the court, all without being tackled by the defenders in 30 seconds. Players are taken out of the game if they are touched or tackled, but return to the game after each point scored by their team from a tag or tackle.

It is popular in the Indian subcontinent and other surrounding Asian countries.

India has been first credited with having helped to popularise kabaddi as a competitive sport, with the first organized competitions occurring in the 1920s, their introduction to the programme of the Indian Olympic Games in 1938, the establishment of the All-India kabaddi Federation in 1950, and it being played as a demonstration sport at the inaugural 1951 Asian Games in New Delhi. Modern kabaddi is a synthesis of the game played in various forms under different names in the Indian subcontinent. These developments helped to formalize the sport, which had traditionally been played on muddy surfaces in villages, for legitimate international competition.

1. “A trophy carries dust. Memories last forever.” – Mary Lou Retton