Sports & Games

Indians have a big sporting history in some sports such as cricket and hockey. However apart from a small select group there has been a lack of interest for other sports in the country. However lots of people have shown great interest in the traditional sports such as wrestling and kabaddi. Some other sports like martial arts have been played traditionally in some parts of India such as Kerala. The lack of interest in sports other than cricket and hockey was quite disturbing for most people even though India continued to produce world champion sportsmen such as Vishwanthan Anand in chess and Geet Sethi in billiards to name a few. Apart from these players Narain Karthikeyan has also been around for some time now in Formula 1 car racing.

Cricket is easily the most dominant sport in India. Its controlling body called BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) is one of the richest sporting bodies in world and has developed many top notch cricketing facilities in the country. The Indian cricket team is ranked numero uno in test cricket and number two in one day cricket at the moment. So obviously cricket is very much alive and kicking in this part of the world. In comparison hockey has seen many ups and downs since its golden era in 1950s and 1960s. Mostly downs unfortunately. There have been frequent comparisons made between cricket and hockey and their popularity. But cricket has dominated hockey for the most part.

The scenario of other sports in India is improving though, with India finishing second in recently concluded Commonwealth Games ahead of England and Canada. Apart from this achievement, Indian tennis and badminton players such as Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupati, Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza in tennis and
Saina Nehwal in badminton have done the country proud.

One sporting achievement all Indians are most proud of is Abhinav Bindra winning a gold medal in 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. This was the first time an Indian won gold medal in Olympics in an individual event. This Punjabi won the 10 meter Air Rifle event at the 2008 Olympics. However India’s greatest sporting achievement in Olympics remains the 8 gold medals in field hockey.

The traditional Indian sports such as kho-kho, kabaddi and kite flying have enjoyed great popularity in urban as well as rural sections of India. These sports require little infrastructure and as a result have thrived in the onslaught of cricket. I was tempted to list the great sporting achievements of cricketers here but that is not the object of writing this article. Everyone is aware of cricketing achievements. But the concern is about the condition of other sports in India. It has been voiced many times all over the country. Things are looking better however with Indian athletes beginning to perform at world level. It makes me feel proud. What about you?

Lack of proper facilities has been considered as the main reason for lack of performance of Indian sportsmen. This might be partially true but the real reason was the lack of attitude more than anything. After all who can forget Milkha Singh’s achievements in 1960s? What were the facilities then? The determination required for winning was lacking in Indian sportsmen. However it is also a fact that we need world class facilities to perform well consistently at world stage.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chirag_Naiknavare

The game of Kabbadi is mostly popular in the countries of the Indian sub-continent and it has gained some amount of favour in many other countries as well. Basically a team game of opposition involving attack and defence, the main advantage of Kabaddi is that it requires absolutely no set-up or elaborate paraphernalia apart from two teams and a play area. It is both a game of skill and of power and the most common sport in rural India and Bangladesh. Incidentally, Kabaddi happens to be the national sport of Bangladesh.

There is no universally accepted theory about the origins of the game. Some say that it dates back more that four thousand years and is derived from the hunting instincts of men before the beginning of civilisation. There is another popular belief that Kabaddi originated in Tamil Nadu from the simple chase of young boys with candy as the objective. There are other theories that relate the game to the ‘Chakravyuh’ episode in the epic ‘The Mahabharata’ in which Abhimanyu was surrounded by a group of enemy warriors. Primarily a game of raid and opposition, it may be assumed therefore that the part about holding the breath is a later attempt at adding interest to the game by making it more challenging. The game has a number of names in India – Kabaddi (Tamil), Sadugudu (Tamil), Gudugudu (Tamil), Palinjadugudu (Tamil) and Sadugoodatthi (Tamil). In Bangladesh and in West Bengal, the original version is still called ‘Ha- du-du’ in some parts.

The game of Kabaddi, as it is played in tournaments, includes two teams of seven players each with five players in the bench of each team. It is a forty minute game, played in two halves and involves a side change after half-time. A raider is sent to the opponent side during attack. The aim of the raider is to ‘tag’ (touch) an opponent player and return to his own side without being ‘caught’. The aim of the opposition is simply that- to trap the raider and not let him return in the same breath. The defenders have to form a chain and if that chain is broken, one of their players are sent off the field. The raider has to hold his breath during attack and chant ‘Kabaddi, Kabaddi’ audibly as a proof. If he loses his breath before returning to his team, he is sent off. Each time a player is out the opposing team earns a point. A team scores a bonus of two points, called a lona, if the entire opposing team is declared out. At the end of the game, the team with the most points wins.

The different forms of Kabaddi are Surjeevani, Amar and Gaminee with variations in rules. The Kabaddi Federation of India follows the format and regulations of Surjeevani.

Kabaddi going international

· 1936 – Demonstrated at the Berlin Olympics
· 1950 – The All India Kabaddi Federation
· 1973 – The Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India
· 1979 – Introduced and popularised in Japan
· 1980 – Asian Kabaddi Championship
· 1990 – Included in the Bejing Asian games

Interestingly, though the game happened to be more popular in South and East India, Punjab has played a vital role in its worldwide fame. The first World Kabaddi Championship was held in Hamilton, Canada, when 14,000 people at the Copps Coliseum watched top players from India, Pakistan, Canada, England and the United States. The first all-kabaddi stadium was in Surrey, British Columbia.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Preetu_Misra

Kabaddi (sometimes transliterated Kabbadi or Kabadi; Hindi: कबड्डी, Urdu: کبڈی, [kəˈbəɖɖi], Kannada: ಕಬಡ್ಡಿ, Tamil: கபடி, Telugu: కబడ్దీ, Malayalam: കബഡി) is a team contact sport that originated in South Asia BCE, as a form of recreational combat training.[1] Two teams occupy opposite halves of a field and take turns sending a “raider” into the other half, in order to win points by tagging or wrestling members of the opposing team; the raider then tries to return to his own half, holding his breath and chanting “kabaddi, kabaddi, kabaddi” during the whole raid. The name — often chanted during a game — derives from a Tamil word (கை-பிடி) meaning “holding of hand”, which is indeed the crucial aspect of play. It is the national game of Bangladesh, and the state game of Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Andhra

Gameplay
In the international team version of kabaddi, two teams of seven members each occupy opposite halves of a field of 13m × 10m in case of men and 12m X 10m in case of women.[2] Each has three supplementary players held in reserve. The game is played with 20 minute halves and a five minute halftime break during which the teams exchange sides.

Teams take turns sending a “raider” to the opposite team’s half, where the goal is to tag or wrestle (“confine”) members of the opposite team before returning to the home half. Tagged members are “out” and temporarily sent off the field.

Meanwhile, defenders must form a chain, for example, by linking hands; if the chain is broken, a member of the defending team is sent off. The goal of the defenders is to stop the raider from returning to the home side before taking a breath.

The raider is sent off the field if:

* the raider takes a breath before returning or
* the raider crosses boundary line or
* A part of the raider’s body touches the ground outside the boundary (except during a struggle with an opposing team member).

Each time a player is out the opposing team earns a point. A team scores a bonus of two points, called a lona, if the entire opposing team is declared out. At the end of the game, the team with the most points wins.

Matches are categorized based on age and weight. Six officials supervise a match: one referee, two umpires, a scorer and two assistant scorers.

History and development

The game, known as Hu-Tu-Tu in Western India, Ha-Do-Do in Eastern India and Bangladesh, Chedugudu or Sadugudu in Tamil Nadu, Southern India and Kaunbada in Northern India, has changed through the ages. Modem Kabaddi is a synthesis of the game played in various forms under different names.

There are claims by some that Kabaddi is game version of the Chakravyuha an ancient war strategy and defensive formation. Abhimanyu, son of Arjuna enters breaks into the Chakravyuha and is the enemy, the Kauravas

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 (re-named Chennai), while the women’s were in Calcutta in 1955.The AKFI has given new shape to the rules and has the right to modify them. The Asian Kabaddi Federation was founded under the chairmanship of Mr. Janardan Singh Gehlot.

Asian Amateur Kabaddi Federation is now headed By Mr. Janardan Singh Gehlot as President and Mr. Muhammad Sarwar as Secretary General and Mr. Mohammad Reza Maghsodlou as Vice President.

Kabaddi was introduced and popularized in Japan in 1979. The Asian Amateur Kabaddi Federation sent Prof. 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.

Attempts to popularize kabaddi in Great Britain saw British TV network Channel 4 commission a programme dedicated to the sport. The show, Kabaddi, on Channel 4 in the early 1990s, failed to capture viewers despite fixtures such as West Bengal Police versus the Punjab. Kabaddi was axed in 1992, but not before its presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy suffered a collapsed lung while participating in the sport.

In the 1998 Asian games the Indian Kabaddi team defeated Pakistan in a thrilling final match at Bangkok (Thailand). The chief coach of the team was former kabaddi player and coach Flt. Lt. S P Singh.

Iran has turned out to be one of the emerging nations in all three forms of Kabaddi. They stand to be one of the few nations having transperancy in selection of team along with world class infrastructure for development of this sport. Currently they are trained and coached by Ashan Kumar , former Indian National Team coach and Arjuna Awardee. It is estimated that the annual budget given by the Iranian Government for development of this sport is arround 400,000 USD which is the highest among all nations. Prominent Non Resident Indian in Iran and leading businessmen in the gulf, P.S.Chandhok is one of the main intiator for development and has extended a great helping hand for development of various sports in Iran. Currently , the construction of a dedicated World Class Kabaddi Stadium is in progress at Tehran.

During the 16th Asian Games at Guangzhou Iranian Men’s bagged Silver Medal and Women’s bagged Bronze Medal. Amazing performance was showcased by Iranian’s during the semi-final match in women’s category against India.

India has remained world champion since it was included in Asian Games and South Asian Federation games. Kabaddi is now a very popular game and is a regular sport in Asian Games, Asian Indoor Games and Asian Beach Games apart from SAF Games.
Article Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabaddi