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Kabbadi, a sport of Indian origin but which has remained on the fringes our sporting consciousness despite fetching gold medals at the Asian Games, is looking for avenues to become part of the Olympics. Having caught the fancy of other Asian as well as European nations, efforts are on to make it a global sport.
The president of the International Kabaddi Federation, Janardhan Singh Gehlot , is the moving spirit behind the move. To become a part of the Olympics, a move which might take years to realise, kabaddi will need the support of a stipulated number of countries before the International Olympic Committee agrees to study the proposal.
India’s two indigenous sports, kabaddi and kho-kho, have failed to gain much recognition mainly owing to apathy of the officials whose job is to encourage and popularise the games. Being a sport with hardly any cost involved, the two games are the natural choice of youth around the countryside where they are played with élan.
Turning point
At a time when India found it difficult to even win a gold medal at the Asian Games in late 1980s, an enterprising national secretary of the sport, Achintya Kumar Saha of Bengal, came up with the idea of spreading the game in South East and Far East Asian countries with the sole aim of getting the sport included in the quadrennial Games. This move left kho-kho far behind and helped kabaddi figure prominently in the Asian Games from 1990.
Since then, the sport has given India a record six gold medals in the men’s section and the first gold medal in the women’s category when the game was introduced at the 2010 Guangzhou Games. Interestingly, kabaddi gave India the only gold medal at the 1990 Beijing and 1994 Hiroshima Games when the Indians failed to gain any in other disciplines.
In fact, the sport figured on the international map when it was included in the South Asian Federation Games in 1985 at Dhaka. Since then, India has been ruling the roost at this level too.
Born as an outdoor sport, kabaddi moved indoors and was played on a synthetic surface, which made the game faster and swifter. Despite new techniques and tactics being introduced to upset the Indians, they continue to dominate their rivals.
The game is mainly supported by Indian expatriates and people from the Indian sub-continent in Europe and the Americas. As it is inching towards becoming a global sport, it is indeed very important to change kabbadi’s profile in its own land.
The Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India will do well to bring in more money and package the sport in an attractive manner to attract the youth. The sport is very popular in south of India and many job avenues have helped give the sport wide recognition. The Federation has to look for at more avenues to spread awareness about the sport in other parts of the country as well.
> sabanayakan.s@thehindu.co.in
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