Kabaddi(Tamil : கபடி) (Devnagari : कबड्डी) It is one of the most popular sports in India, played mainly among people in villages.It is regarded as a team-contact sport as a recreational form of combat training. Two teams occupy opposite halves of a small field and take turns sending a raider into the other half, in order to win points by tagging/wrestling members of the opposing team; the raider then tries to return to his own half while holding his breath and chanting "kabaddi, kabaddi, kabaddi" during the whole raid. India has taken part in four Asian Games in kabaddi, and won gold in all of them. There are 4 forms of kabaddi played in India are Amar, Suranjeevi, Huttuttoo, and Gaminee. Amar is generally played in Punjab, Haryana, America, Canada, and other parts of the world, mostly by Punjabi sportsmen. Suranjeevi is the most played form of kabaddi in India and the world. This is the form used in international matches generally and played in Asian Games. Huttuttoo was played by men in Maharashtra State.

India won the Kabaddi World Championship in 2007, beating Iran 29-19.[1]

India is also the host to World's first Kabaddi League. The league follows the Formula 1 touring sports format and will be played across four continents starting from August to December 2014.[2] It is the state game of Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in India where a related game of Sadugudu is played, and Maharashtra in India. It is played by the British Army for fun, to keep fit and as an enticement to recruit soldiers from the British Asian community. The game is also played extensively in the small town of Peebles in the Scottish Borders, mainly in the local primary school playground, where it is favoured to more traditional childhood past-times such as 'British bulldogs' and 'Kiss, Cuddle and Torture'. [citation needed]

India won the 2013 Kabaddi World Cup held at Guru Nanak Stadium, Ludhiana (Punjab) India.

Etymology

There is no consensus as to the origins of the word Kabaddi. The word Kabaddi might have been derived from the Tamil word "kai-pidi" (கைபிடி) meaning "to hold hands".[3][4] [5] However, the word is in use in North India, [6] in languages such as Hindi in which it means holding breath.[7][8]

History and development

Women playing Kabaddi/Sadugudu in Tamil Nadu

Modern Kabaddi is a synthesis of the game played in various forms under different names.[9]

Kabaddi received international exposure during the 1936 Berlin Olympics, demonstrated by Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal, Amaravati, Maharashtra. The game was introduced in the Indian Olympic Games at Calcutta in 1938.

In 1950 the All India Kabaddi Federation came into existence and compiled standard rules. The Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) was founded in 1973. After formation of the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India, the first men's nationals were held in Madras (renamed Chennai), while the women's were in Calcutta (renamed Kolkata) in 1955.The AKFI has given new shape to the rules and has the right to modify them. The Asian Kabaddi Federation (AKF) was founded under the chairmanship of Mr. Janardan Singh Gehlot.

Kabaddi was introduced and popularised in Japan in 1979. The Asian Amateur Kabaddi Federation sent Professor Sundar Ram of India to tour Japan for two months to introduce the game.

In 1979, a return test between Bangladesh and India was held at different places of India including Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Punjab. The Asian Kabaddi Championship was arranged in 1980 and India emerged as champion and Bangladesh runner-up. Bangladesh became runner-up again in 1985 in the Asian Kabaddi Championship held in Jaipur, India. The other teams in the tournament were Nepal, Malaysia and Japan. The game was included for the first time in the Asian Games in Beijing in 1990. India, China, Japan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh took part. India won the gold medal and has also won gold at the following six Asian Games in Hiroshima in 1994, Bangkok in 1998, Busan in 2002, Doha in 2006 and Guangzhou in 2010.

An attempt to popularise kabaddi in Great Britain was carried out by Channel 4, who commissioned a programme dedicated to the sport. The programme, Kabaddi in the early 1990s, however, failed to capture viewer attention despite fixtures such as West Bengal Police versus the Punjab. Kabaddi was axed in 1992. Alt-rock band The Cooper Temple Clause formed a kabbadi team in 2001 and were, at one stage, ranked seventh in the British domestic standings.[10] [better source needed]

In the 1998 Asian games held at Bangkok (Thailand), the Indian Kabaddi team clinched the gold medal. The chief coach of the team was former kabaddi player and coach Flt. Lt. S P Singh.