Kabaddi

A kabaddi court at the 2006 Asian Games

In the international team version of kabaddi, two teams of seven members each occupy opposite halves of a court of 10 by 13 metres (33 ft × 43 ft) in case of men and 8 by 12 metres (26 ft × 39 ft) in case of women.[12] Each has five supplementary players held in reserve for substitution.[12] The game is played with 20-minute halves with a 5-minute half time break in which the teams exchange sides.[12] During each play, known as a "raid", a player from the attacking side, known as the "raider", runs into the opposing team's side of the court and attempts to tag as many of the seven defending players as possible. The raider must cross the baulk line into the defending team's territory, and then return to their half of the field without being tackled. (If an attacker touches a defender and hasn't yet reached the baulk line, they do not need to reach the baulk line to score points and may return to their half of the court.)[16] While raiding, the raider must loudly chant kabaddi, confirming to referees that their raid is done on a single breath without inhaling. Each raid has a 30-second time limit.[17][18][19][20]

A point is scored for each defender tagged; tags can be made with any part of the raider's body.[21] If the raider steps beyond the bonus line marked in the defending team's territory when there are five or more players, they earn an additional point known as a bonus point (the bonus point is only scored if the raider's trailing foot is in the air while they step over the line).[22] If the raider is successfully stopped (tackled), the opposite team earns a point instead. All players tagged are taken out of the game, but one is "revived" for each point a team scores from a subsequent tag or tackle. Bonus points do not revive players. Players who step out of the boundary are out. There are two strips on either side of the court known as "lobby areas"; they are part of the out-of-bounds area at the start of each raid, and only become part of the field of play once the raider touches an opponent.[22] A raid where no points are scored by the raider is referred to as an "empty raid". By contrast, a play where the raider scores three or more points is referred to as a "super raid". If a team gets all seven players on the opposing team out ("All Out"), they earn two additional points and the players are placed back in the game.[17][18][19][20]

A circle kabaddi match being played in Bhimber

There are four major forms of Indian kabaddi recognised by the amateur federation.[4] In Sanjeevani kabaddi, one player is revived against one player of the opposite team who is out. The game is played over 40 minutes with a five-minute break between halves. There are seven players on each side and the team that outs all the players on the opponent's side scores four extra points.

In Gaminee style, seven players play on each side and a player put out has to remain out until all his team members are out. The team that is successful in outing all the players of the opponent's side secures a point. The game continues until five or seven such points are secured and has no fixed time duration.

Amar style resembles the Sanjeevani form in the time frame rule, but a player who is declared out stays inside the court while play continues. For every player of the opposition touched "out", a team earns a point.[23]

Punjabi kabaddi is a variation that is played on a circular pitch of a diameter of 22 metres (72 ft).[24]

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The Kabaddi World Cup is an outdoor international standard style kabaddi competition conducted by the International Kabaddi Federation (IKF), contested by men's and women's national teams. The competition has been previously contested in 2004, 2007 and 2016. All the tournaments have been won by India. India defeated Iran by 38–29 in the final of the championship game to clinch the title of 2016.[27][28]

After the establishment of a new kabaddi organization named World Kabaddi Federation,[29] a 2019 Kabaddi World Cup was held in April 2019 at Malacca, Malaysia. It was the largest world cup in kabaddi history, consisting of 32 men's teams and 24 women's teams.[30]

Kabaddi was played as a demonstration event at the First Asian Games in 1951,[5][6][7] and again in 1982,[13] before becoming a medal event for the first time in 1990.[13]

The Indian national team won every men's and women's kabaddi competition in the Asian Games from 2002 through 2014. At the 2018 Asian Games, Iran became the first country other than India to win gold medals in kabaddi, with India's men's team winning bronze, and India's women's team being beaten by Iran to win silver.[31]

The Pro Kabaddi League was established in 2014.[32] The league modeled its business upon that of the Indian Premier League of Twenty20 cricket, with a large focus on marketing, the backing of local broadcaster Star Sports, and changes to the sport's rules and its presentation to make it more suitable for a television audience.[33] The Pro Kabaddi League quickly became a ratings success on Indian television; the 2014 season was watched by at least 435 million viewers over the course of the season, and the inaugural championship match was seen by 98.6 million viewers.[34][35]

All players in the league must be strictly under 85 kg of weight.

Additional rules are used in the Pro Kabaddi League to encourage scoring: when a defensive side has three or fewer players remaining, tackles are worth two points instead of one. Furthermore, if a team performs two empty raids in a row, the next raider must score a point ("do-or-die raid"), or else they will be declared out and the opposing team will score a point.[17][18][19][20]

The inaugural edition of the IIPKL was on 13 May at Pune, India.[36] The title for the inaugural season was won by the Bangalore Rhinos.[37]

In May 2018, the Super Kabaddi League was first held in Pakistan, as part of a larger push to promote renewed interest in the sport in Pakistan.[38][39][40]

AKC's tenth season was played in Gorgan, Iran, in 2017 in which India won its tenth gold by defeating Pakistan in the finals.[41]

The inaugural edition of the Kabaddi Masters was held in Dubai, 22–30 June 2018. It was the first kabaddi tournament to be held in the UAE. It featured 6 teams. India won the tournament by defeating Iran in the final with a scoreline of 44–26, with the Indian Defense outperforming the Iran Defense.[42]

The inaugural Junior Kabaddi World Championship was held in Kish island, Iran, 11–14 November 2019. It featured 13 teams.[43] Iran won the tournament by defeating Kenya in the final, 42–22. Team India did not participate in this tournament.[44]

Yuva Kabaddi Series is a long duration tournament for the youth players of India, limited to players under 23 years of age and under 80 kg in weight. The inaugural Yuva Kabaddi Series was conducted in Jaipur in June 2022.[45] Three tournaments were conducted in 2022: Summer Edition in Jaipur, Monsoon Edition at Ranchi,[46] and Winter Edition at Pondicherry; and two in 2023: the KMP YKS[47] in Maharashtra[48] (which was won by Ahmednagar) and Summer Edition Mysore.[49] For the first time in the history of Indian kabaddi, players from the North East will be playing in a tournament of this stature.

Yuva Kabaddi Series was founded by uMumba CEO Suhail Chandhok and Vikas Kumar Gautam.[50]

The first edition of European Kabaddi Championship was held in Scotland in 2019. The final match was between Poland and Holland, Poland won the tournament. Final score was Poland 47–27 Holland.[52] The second edition was held in Cyprus in 2021 which was organized by World Kabaddi Federation. Poland retained their title by beating hosts Cyprus in the final, 29-15.[53] Italy is was set to host the third edition in 2022,[54] but it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, eventually happening in 2023. Poland beat England in the final to retain their title.[55]

• Okkadu (Telugu; 2003): A state-level kabaddi player trying to prove to his parents that he can be successful in it. The film was subsequently remade in four other Indian languages. It has since been remade in Tamil as Ghilli (2004) and Kannada as Ajay (2006).
• Student of the Year 2 (Hindi; 2019): A kabaddi player tries to become student of the year.
• Panga (Hindi; 2020): A former kabaddi world champion attempts a comeback after being a mother for 7 years.
• Pardes (Hindi; 1997): Rajiv and Arjun play a kabaddi match to ensure that Ganga remains Rajiv's fiancé.

• Burning Kabaddi (2021): A Japanese anime about a high school Kabaddi team. It is based on the manga of the same name.[59][60][61]
• Massage Detective Joe (2017): In the seventh episode of this Japanese TV show, massage therapist Joe deduces with his extraordinary skills as a massage detective that the killer must be a Kabaddi player. After that, an introduction to Kabaddi is given to the Japanese audience.[62]