Kabaddi at Spotland Stadium

Kabaddi at Spotland Stadium

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History was made at Spotland Stadium when a Kabaddi Match took place on a professional football pitch for the first time ever.

Rochdale Kabaddi Club hired the stadium at a cost of £4000, allowed free entry, which helped attract around a thousand spectators, and proudly presented Rochdale versus Birmingham with International Kabbadi stars in both teams.

Talking to Rochdale Online, organiser Ghulam Shahzad said: "It is an historic day.

"The event is part of our community cohesion efforts, an attempt to bring all sections of the community together."

Rochdale Team: Sajjad, Waseed, Nisar, Amjad, Ansar, Sharfrah, Shahzad, Khuram Bajws, Amjad Boli, Asif

Birmingham Team: Malkit Singhcheema, Shba, Bittu, Tajdukhi, Manni, Babbu, Makhan Gurdaspups, Ladi Aulakh, Majaz Galchal

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Kabaddi is a team sport originally from India. Two teams take turns sending a "raider" into the other half, the raider then tries to return to his own half. Points are won by tagging or wrestling members of the opposing team.

Players at the competitive level are usually well-built, strong and also at the same time need to be swift, agile and have high levels of stamina and endurance to be good at all aspects of the game. There is a lot of strategising which forms part of the gameplay and the players need to be in prime mental and physical condition to successfully participate in a game of Kabaddi, or else serious injury may result.

Kabaddi is popular throughout South Asia, and has also spread to Southeast Asia, Japan and Iran. It is the national game of Bangladesh. It is the state game of Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra in India. It is played by the British Army for fun, to keep fit and as an enticement to recruit soldiers from the British Asian community.

Origin

The origin of Kabaddi can be traced to the pre-historic times. In India, Kabaddi was primarily devised as a way to develop the physical strength and speed in young men.

During its inception, Kabaddi was played to boost the self-defence skills and to develop quick responsiveness to attacks. It also sharpened the reflexes of counter attacks of the individuals, who mostly played in groups or teams.

Kabaddi also finds place in Hindu mythology. The dramatised version of the great Indian epic, the Mahabharata, has made an analogy of the game, wherein the warrior Arjuna's son Abhimanyu faces a tough time, when he is trapped in the 'Chakravyuha' set by his enemies of the war.