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Kabaddi
Players	7 + 5 reserves
Age range	4 and up
Setup time	30 minutes
Playing time	no limit
Random chance	Low
Skills required	Running, Observation, Quickness, Strength

Kabaddi (sometimes written Kabbadi or Kabadi) (Punjabi: ਕਬੱਡੀ, Hindi: कबड्डी; IPA: [kəbəɖɖi]) is a team sport originally from the Indian subcontinent. It is popular throughout South Asia, and has also spread to Southeast Asia, Japan and Iran. It a popular game in Pakistan,Bangladesh, and the state game of Maharashtra, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh in India. It is even played by the British Army, seen by them as both a fun and an excellent way to keep fit, but also as an enticement to recruit more soldiers from the large British Asian community. [1]

The name, often chanted during a game, derives from a Hindi word, meaning "holding of breath", which is a crucial aspect of play.

Contents 1 Gameplay 2 History 3 See also 4 External links

In the team, or transnational, style of kabaddi, two teams of seven players occupy opposite halves of a field of 12.5m × 10m (roughly half the size of a basketball court). Each team has five supplementary players that are held in reserve. The game is organized into two 20-minute halves, with a five-minute half-time break during which the teams switch sides.

The teams take turns sending a "raider" across 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 are sent off the field.

Meanwhile, the 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. If the raider takes a breath before returning to the home side, the raider is out and is sent off the field.

A player can also get "out" by going over a boundary line during the course of the play or if any part of the player'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 staged on the basis of age and weight. Six officials supervise a match: one referee, two umpires, a scorer and two assistant scorers.

The Punjabi style of kabaddi is also known as circle kabaddi, or ring kabaddi. In this version, played in a circular field, a single raider crosses to the opposing semi-circle where four "stoppers" await, arm in arm. The raider must tag one, and only one, of the stoppers and then run back across the dividing line of the circle, usually between two markers along that line, to receive one team point. If the tagged stopper can tackle the raider, or push the raider out of bounds, the stoppers' team receive the points. Raids occur alternately between the teams. The first raid of the match is worth 1 1/2 points, though, to prevent the possibility of a tie.

Kabaddi originated in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is called as sadugudu in Tamil.^{[citation needed]} Kabaddi is also very famous and popular in Punjab.

The Kabaddi Federation of India (KFI) was founded in 1950, and it compiled a standard set of rules. The Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) was founded in 1973. The AKFI has given new shape to the rules and it has also the rights of modification in the rules. The Asian Kabaddi Federation was founded under the chairmanship of Sharad Pawar.

Kabaddi was introduced and popularised in Japan in the year 1979. The Asian Amateur Kabaddi Federation sent Prof. Sundar Ram of India to extensively tour Japan for about 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 successfully arranged in 1980 and India emerged as the champion and Bangladesh as the runners-up. Bangladesh became runners-up again in 1985 in Asian Kabaddi Championship held in Jaipur, India. The other teams included in the tournament were Nepal, Malaysia and Japan. The game was included for the first time in Asian Games held in Beijing in 1990. Eight countries took part including India, China, Japan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh. India won the gold medal and has since won gold at the following three Asian Games in Hiroshima in 1994, Bangkok in 1998 and Busan in 2002. India won the gold medal in the recently concluded 2006 Asian Games at Doha.

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 great coach Flt. Lt. S P Singh.

In 1979 the Asian Amateur Kabaddi Federation deputed Prof. M.J.Sundar Ram, an Indian Kabaddi coach, to Japan to introduce and popularise the game among the youth of that country. Prof. Ram toured different places in Japan for about two months and popularised the game. Noted players include Balwinder Phiddu, who started playing in 1975 and only recently retired after the 1997 World Cup. This large framed man considered a hero from Punjab to the rest of the world made vast amounts of money during his many travels for the sport predominantly being to England and more recently Canada.^{[citation needed]}

The World Circle Kabaddi Cup has been held at Hamilton, Ontario, and recently has been held in Surrey, British Columbia, which hosts the first all-kabaddi stadium. [2]

Recently Mr. Shamsher Singh was awarded the Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime achievement in sports by the government of India.

India has remained the unbeaten world champion in Kabaddi ever since it was included in Asian Games and South Asian Federation games.

• Kho kho
• Tag
• Sqn Ldr S.P.Singh (former coach of Indian national team)

• Kabaddi Blog
• - official web site of International Kabaddi Federation
• Kabaddi page on cash81
• - a notable site featuring the circle kabaddi style
• Women's Kabbadi
• Southamton Kabaddi Association
• Asian Kabaddi
• Kabaddi Malaysia
• Kabaddi International
• Kabbadi team of British Army

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