Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

SPORTS

kabaddi gained a lot of impetus due to the efforts of Gautam (Delhi), Gehlot (Rajasthan), P.K. Walanj (Gujarat), Prabhakara Rao (Andhra), G.P. Nair (Kerala), Abdul Razak (Tamil Nadu), Chandra Mouli (Karnataka), Ramesh Desai (Goa), Agrawal (Uttar Pradesh), Mangal Singh (Bihar), Nandi (Indian Railways), S.B. Patil (Vidharbha) and H.S. Bullar (Punjab), who devoted over a decade for the cause of the game. The evolution of the chant ‘kabaddi’ itself is steeped in mys- tery. According to one school of thought, the chant could have evolved from the Hindi phrase, ‘kaun bada’ meaning who is bigger or rather better in terms of agility. India has been the dominant force in the Asian level championships, which have been held in Calcutta (1980), Bombay (1984), Jaipur (1990) and Vijayawada (1992). The first ‘goodwill’ tour of an Indian kabaddi team was to Bangladesh in 1974. And the first Test match in kabaddi was against Bangladesh in 1979 at Calcutta. While India’s first official participation abroad was in the 1985 South Asian Federation Games at Bangladesh, the first in- ternational kabaddi tournament was organised by the Hindmatha Sports Club in Bombay in 1993. The honour of representing In-

score a point within the bounds of the court which, again like in kabaddi, is very simple and easy to prepare. In modern times, the game developed in Maharashtra and gained in immense popularity. The first code of rules was drawn up by a team of kho kho experts appointed by the Deccan Gymkhana, Pune in 1914. The rules were remodelled by the Hind-Vijay Gym- khana’ Baroda in 1924. The Akhila Maharashtra Shareera Shiksh- ana Mandal (AMSSM) formed in 1928 took up the onus of stream- lining the rules of the game. The Mandal first elicited the opinion and views from kho kho experts all over the country and accepted the improved version as suggested by the experts in 1933. The first book of'rules was published in 1935 by the AMSSM and, in 1938, the Mandal came out with the second edition of the same. The AMSSM came out with a new book of rules in 1949. The game spread to the other States largely due to the efforts of the YMCA, Madras and the RSS movement. People with highly na-

dia at the III International Youth Festival in Moscow as an individual invitee went to a kabaddi player for the first time in 1957. And the per- son to receive this honour was Datta Milap of Maharashtra. Arjuna Awards: Kabaddi, which has been introduced as a subject of study at the Sports Authority of India’s NIS South Centre, Banga- lore, has the following Arjuna Award winners: Sadanand Shetty, Bholanath Guin, Shakuntala Khat- avkar, Monika Nath, Rama Sarkar and Hardeep Singh. A totally indigenous game like kabaddi, the origins of kho kho are steeped in Indian traditions and mythology. Basically evolving from the simple concept of run and chase, kho kho is believed to have been the ‘Rasa Kreeda’ of Lord Krishna. Another background to this game is the Indian belief of the influence of the nine planets or Nava Grahas on the life of every individual and the more one wins over the Nava Gra- has, the more one is closer to salva- tion. Similarly in the game of kho kho, nine chasers organised in a pre-determined manner (eight seated and one ready to chase) plan and cover a player from the oppos- ing team and try to get him out to KHO-KHO