Kabaddi is a highly athletic sport with roots in India. This fast-paced sport requires strength, speed, and determination. It can be played indoors or outdoors, and is gaining popularity due to its unique and energetic playstyle.

How to Play

The goal of Kabaddi is for one player to run into the opposite team’s court and “touch out” as many of the opposite team’s players as possible before returning to their own side of the court. The players on the defending side are called antis, and the team on the attacking side are called raiders. The difficult aspect of the game comes from two parts here. The attacking player must attack the antis alone, and also must chant “Kabaddi kabaddi” while attacking. This requires the player to have great lunch capacity.

The teams take turns being the raiders and antis. Teams generally have seven players on each side. To score points, a raider must tag as many antis as possible without taking a breath. Those players who are tagged are considered to be out for the round.

For the antis, they can prevent the raiders from scoring points by wrestling the attacking raider to the ground and making him break his chant or take a breath.

History of Kabaddi

Kabaddi originated in ancient India. It is thought that it originated in group hunting activities in Tamil Nadu. In the 1900s, it spread to the northern part of India and was especially popular in Punjab.

The game had its first formalized rules between 1920 and 1950. It is now a popular game in many places and has two main forms. The two main forms are international and Indian and have slight variations in rules and regulations.

Kabaddi has been featured in the Olympics and has become popular in countries including Japan and China. The International Kabaddi Federation was formed in 2004 and has helped solidify the presence of Kabaddi internationally. Kabaddi did not have any international women teams until 2012, when the International Kabaddi World Cup was hosted in Patna, India. Kabaddi is now the national sport of Nepal and Bangladesh.

Kabaddi is a unique and difficult game and encourages players to have superior lung and physical strength.