KABADDI IN THE INTERNATIONAL ARENA :
KABADDI-TODAY IN ASIA …. TOMORROW IN OLYMPICS
The Ancient Olympics were fundamentally of religious importance, with the contests alternating between sacrifices and ceremonies honouring both Zeus (whose colossal statue stood at Olympia), and Pelops, divine hero and mythical king of Olympia famous for his legendary chariot race, in whose honor the games were held. Gradually, the number of events increased to twenty, and the celebration was spread over several days. Winners of the events were broadly admired and were immortalized in poems and statues. The Games were held every four years, and the period between two celebrations became known as an Olympiad. The Greeks used Olympiads as one of their methods to count years.
Baron De Coubertin, who is the father of Modern Olympics, searched for a reason for the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). He thought the reason was that the French had not received proper physical education, and sought to improve this. Coubertin also throught of a way to bring nations closer together, to have the youth of the world complete in sports, rather than fight in war. In his eyes, the revival of the Olymipic Games would achieve both of these goals. The interest in reviving the Olympics grew when the ruins of ancient Olympia were uncovered by German archaeologists in the mid-19th century.
The five inter-linked Olympic Rings are symbol of the modern Olympics. These five rings represent the unity of the five continents, while the colours (red, blue, green, yellow, black) were chosen since each nation has at least one these colours in its national flag. The rings were introduced at the 1920 Antwerp Games. The rings are also featured on the Olympic Flag, which is hoisted at each celebration of the Games.
The official Olympic Motto is “Citius, Altius, Fortius”, a Latin phrase meaning “Swifter, Higher, Stronger”. Coubertin’s ideals are probably best illustrated by the Olympic Creed :
“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”
KABADDI IN THE CONTEXT OF OLYMPIC GAMES
Kabaddi, the popular Asian Game with its roots in India has all the ingredients to make it an Olympic sport. This combative sport befits the motto of the Olympics ‘Altius, Citius & Fortius’ since it involves agility, good muscular co-ordination, presence of mind, dare, quick reflexes, good lung capacity, and an ability to anticipate the opponent’s moves. The unique feature of this sport is that it is a combination of a team game and an individual effort. The attack in Kabaddi is an individual effort while the defense is a team effort. Thus it has both the thrills of an individual as well as a team game for the spectators. Kabaddi is perhaps the only sport that is closely related to “Yoga”, the ancient Indian science that advocates a healthy mind in a healthy body. The attacker or raider in Kabaddi has to withhold his breath while chanting Kabaddi-Kabaddi and invade the opponent’s territory, where he has to try to touch as many opponents or antis as possible while warding off their combined efforts to capture him. With holding breath is akin to “Pranayama” of yoga, a means to control body and mind. Pitching one’s wits against those of seven opponents and remaining unscathed is no mean task ! This calls for tremendous fitness of body and mind. The game is thus most suitable for youngsters. Kabaddi is basically a combative out door sport, which can also be played on synthetic mat surface indoors. This makes Kabaddi an all weather sport.
A large chunk of the worlds population play this game since the game requires no special equipment or kit but has all the appeal which a combative team game such as soccer, enjoys. A look at the population chart of the most populated countries of the world and the Kabaddi playing countries tells its own story of the number of people who revel in this sport. [The Kabaddi playing countries are depicted in red].
Kabaddi playing countries among the most populated countries of the world :
1. China 1,273,111,290
2. India 1,029,991,145
3. United States 278,058,881
4. Indonesia 228,437,870
5. Brazil 174,468,575
6. Russia 145,470,197
7. Pakistan 144,616,639
8. Bangladesh 131,269,860
9. Japan 126,771,662
10. Nigeria 126,635,626
11. Turkey 66,493,970
12. Iran 66,128,965
13. Ethiopia 65,891,874
14. Thailand 61,797,751
15. United Kingdom 59,647,790
16. Vietnam 79,939,014
17. Philippines 82,841,518
18. Egypt 69,536,644
19. Germany 83,029,536
20. Mexico 101,879,171
KABADDI IN THE INTERNATIONAL ARENA:
The 1st Asian Kabaddi Championship was held in the year 1980 at Kolkata [India]. Kabaddi was included as a demonstration game in the IX Asian Games hosted by India in year 1982. In the year 1984, an open Inter-National tournament was organized at Bombay (now renamed Mumbai), in India. During the Tri-Centenary celebrations of the city of Calcutta, an Inter-National Invitation Kabaddi Tournament was organized in the city. Kabaddi was included in South Asian Federation Games at Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1985. In the XI Asian Games held in the year 1990 at Beijing, China, Kabaddi was included as a main discipline. After the XI Asian Games, 1990, Kabaddi has been regularly featuring in the Asian games as a main discipline. The NIKE International Kabaddi Gold cup tournament started especially for women in 1995. The first Asian Championship in Kabaddi was organized in Calcutta, in the year 1980. A good will tour was organized in the year 1981, in which the Indian men & women teams visited Thailand, Japan and Malaysia to play exhibition Kabaddi matches. Kabaddi was included as a demonstration sport in the 1st Afro-Asian Games organized at Hyderabad [India]. The African Countries received the game very enthusiastically. The 1st World Cup was organized at Mumbai [India] by the South Canara Sports Club, in which twelve teams from various countries including U.K., Canada, Germany, and West Indies took part, taking Kabaddi one more step up the international ladder.
To date, the game is very popular in Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Maldives, Bhutan, Sri-Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Iran and Bangladesh and is making appreciable progress in the countries of England, France, Korea, Germany, UAE, West Indies and Canada. The game has recently been introduced to USA, Mauritius, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Brunei.
