You ever wake up in the morning and just wish to get the snot pounded out of you? I don’t. But I’m quite lazy. For those of you looking to get in a vigorous workout this summer, I have a sport you probably should try. It’s called Kabaddi, and it gets played almost all over the world.
Kabaddi is played between two teams of twelve. Depending on the version, the number of active players can range from seven to ten, with the rest remaining in reserve. The particular form discussed here in this article is the game-style endorsed by the Kabaddi Federation of India, otherwise known as Surjeevani Kabaddi.
The ring is essentially a 150 foot wide circle that allows a team to break up into Raiders and Stoppers. Since the game is divided up into two twenty minute rounds, with a five minute water break in the middle, each team eventually gets a chance to play both sides. Remember how I said the game was tag with attitude? Well, essentially, all the Raiders have to do is run in from their side, tag an opposing Stopper, and get back to their safety zone in 30 seconds. They do have to hold their breath the entire time (cheating is hard to do because the raider must chant “Kabbadi” the entire time he’s outside of his safe zone, proving he’s not inhaling). Additionally, the Stoppers are required to lock arms or hold hands the entire time so the Raiders have one giant target. Not so bad, right? Just a quick in and out and you’ve scored yourself a point.
Easy in theory, miserable in practice. Stoppers get to charge you. They also get to tackle you and pin you to the ground. Once one Raider goes down, all Raiders are required to immediately report back to their safety zone so no sneaky points may be scored. If the Raider goes down for more than 30 seconds, the Stoppers earn a point. If you get tagged and don’t catch your opponent, you’re out. If you tag and end up getting a face full of dirt, you’re out. If one team gets all the other team’s players out, they score 4 bonus points. However, under the Federation rules, if you have a man out when you get the opposition’s player out, he gets to sub back in. The game is made further difficult because the circle is divided into smaller segments making a smaller playing field in it. If anyone goes out of the space allotted, the other team scores a point. The Kabaddi Federation of India decided to make the game a little trickier, so they also added some dress and behavior rules that apply to all the players of the game, and could potentially cause a team to lose a few points (but these are all pretty normal, so not worth digging into).
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