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| 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 |
11.
|
Turkey |
66,493,970 |
2.
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India |
1,029,991,145 |
12.
|
Iran |
66,128,965 |
3.
|
United States |
278,058,881 |
13.
|
Ethiopia |
65,891,874 |
4.
|
Indonesia |
228,437,870 |
14.
|
Thailand |
61,797,751 |
5.
|
Brazil |
174,468,575 |
15.
|
United Kingdom |
59,647,790 |
6.
|
Russia |
145,470,197 |
16.
|
Vietnam |
79,939,014 |
7.
|
Pakistan |
144,616,639 |
17.
|
Philippines |
82,841,518 |
8.
|
Bangladesh |
131,269,860 |
18.
|
Egypt |
69,536,644 |
9.
|
Japan |
126,771,662 |
19.
|
Germany |
83,029,536 |
| 10. |
Nigeria |
126,635,626 |
20. |
Mexico |
101,879,171 |
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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.
MAJOR INTER-NATIONAL
TOURNAMENTS
- WORLD CUP
- ASIAN GAMES
- ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIP FOR MEN
- ASIAN WOMEN CHAMPIONSHIP
- JUNIOR ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIP FOR
BOYS
- JUNIOR ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIP FOR
GIRLS
- SOUTH ASIAN FEDERATION GAMES
To sum up, for a berth in the
Olympics, a sport requires to be popular among a large number
of people all aver the world, it should have standard rules
and regulations and bring out the motto of the Olympics i.e.,
‘swiftest, highest and strongest’. Kabaddi fulfills
all these requirements and has the recognition of the Indian
Olympic Association as well as the Olympic Council of Asia.
It features regularly in the Asian games from 1990, which are
second only to the Olympics in terms of number of participating
countries, number of sporting events and the population involved.
It is strongly advocated that we take a leaf out of the books
of other Asian countries such as3apan & Korea, who -have
very successfully launched Judo [of 3apan] and Taekwondo [of
Karea] in the Olympic games as a regular and popular feature.
To achieve this, the Japanese and Koreans went about popularizing
the National Sport of their countries in a very systematic manner,
which included sending coaches and experts to various countries
all over the world at their own cost, conducting coaching camps
to visiting foreign teams, through electronic media and showcasing
the game as part of their culture where ever possible. Foreigners
who visit Japan or Korea get to witness their National indigenous
sport, Judo and Taekwondo respectively which leaves an indelible
mark on their memory. A lot of money, time & effort were
spent in popularizing their National Sport, and today3udo and
Taekwondo am popular in a majority of the countries all over
the world and also in Olympics.
Kabaddi has made appreciable progress duets the efforts of the
Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India and the Indian Olympic Association
with its advent into the Asian games. These bodies have successfully
advocated the inclusion of Kabaddi to the Olympic Association
of the Kabaddi Playing countries in Asia and Other Parts of
the world. What needs to be done now is to convince the lnter-national
Olympic Committee regarding the suitability of inclusion of
Kabaddi, in the forthcoming Olympic games. Since Kabaddi has
been in existence since times immemorial and the game is very
much a part of the Indian culture, we must emulate the steps
taken by Japan & Korea for popularizing this indigenous
National Game of India and bring it to the heights of an Olympic
Sport.
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