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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-
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.
KHO-KHO
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
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-