From mud to mat, kabaddi adapting to change

A bunch of 25 players can be seen training in the circle style kabaddi as well as its modern national style avatar in the Guru Nanak Stadium every evening.

After mat replaced mud, kabaddi has become an indoor sport. In the circle style kabaddi — a form of the sport still popular in villages — a raider is handled by a single defender. However, it is slowly becoming a thing of the past.

In the national style, a raider has to handle all seven defenders, testing the physical and mental prowess of the raider in a minimum given time.

On the lines of Indian Premier League, players are auctioned and franchisee teams are in vogue in kabaddi. All these changes have heralded a sea change in the sport, which has become action-packed affair keeping viewers glued to TV.

Even as kabaddi has turned into a professional sport to match the pace at the global level, locally the youngsters are yet to adapt to it.

Coach Ranjit Singh, president of Amritsar Kabaddi Association, trains players on the mat at Harsha Chinna village in Ajnala, a border sub-division. Under him, Punjab kabaddi team had won bronze medal at the senior national meet after 18 years, in Odisha.

Matching the pace with the global changes, his team produced a good result by shifting to the mat. Ranjit Singh’s centre has produced a few international and several national players having origin in Punjab’s countryside. Rajbir Singh from the centre was among the 20 best players chosen from across India for the Junior India Cup for kabaddi held last year.

The centre has 25 national and six players for sub-junior (U16) camp. Nearly 80 players, including 35 girls — all above 14 years of age, train at the centre.

Positive results can be seen at permanent kabaddi centre in the Kale Ghanupur area, which has produced international player Kirandeep Kaur who participated in Women Kabaddi League in Dubai in 2023.

She migrated overseas last year. Established in 2015, the centre is now training four national players — Gagandeep Kaur, Harjot Kaur, Lakshpreet Kaur and Karandeep Kaur — who are currently being groomed to qualify for international games.

Coach Neetu is training 45 girls in 14 to 19 year age group from the permanent centre at Government High School, Kale Ghanupur. The government provides a diet of Rs 125 per player per day. It comprises nutritious food, including eggs, milk, fruits and dry fruits.