Holding their breath for kabaddi

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/08/2015 (3908 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s like red rover, tag, wrestling and rugby but with no ball and nothing but a pair of shorts, strength, stamina and skill for protection.

The ancient team sport of kabaddi isn’t very well-known outside of India. It is the state game of Punjab and the national game of Bangladesh.

In Winnipeg, the city’s annual kabaddi tournament drew thousands of spectators and players to this weekend.

On Saturday, semi-professional teams from Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg competed at the Maples Community Centre for thousands of dollars in prize money, said organizer Deep Grewal.

“It’s our traditional game,” he said.

On a sweltering Sunday, it was the Winnipeg amateurs who turned out to play just for the love of the game — such as 17-year-old Pardeep Brar.

“It’s our cultural game from back home,” said Brar.

He said he learned the game growing up in Punjab, and he and his friends gather at a field in the Maples every night to play.

“It makes us proud” to continue playing the ancient sport, he said. It was originally meant to develop self-defence skills, ways to respond to attacks, and reflexes of counterattack.

The word kabaddi is said to come from a Hindi word, meaning “holding of breath.”

Members of one team play in shifts and a “raider” from the other team runs over and tags one or all of the players, who has to capture the raider before he heads back to his side of the court. That’s where the racing and wrestling come in. Referee Lakhvir Heera made sure players stayed within the rules and the white ring encircling the field of play.

It requires strength, agility and toughness without trying to injure your opponents, Brar said. “It’s not brutal.”

At halftime, though, there were several players from Brar’s Maples team and their opponents from East Kildonan with visible welts across their backs and chests. With no uniforms or padding, there’s nothing to hide the intensity of kabaddi.

Grewal estimates there are around 200 boys and young men in Winnipeg playing kabaddi and the number is growing although they have a tough time finding coaches.

Seven Oaks School Division trustee Derek Dabee grew up in the West Indies, where he played a very “loose” form of kabaddi. The inexpensive game requires neither a massive playing area nor any expensive equipment, and any boy can play.

“I like it,” said Dabee, who is of Indian descent. “The legacy of the game is for the kids.” He said he attends the Winnipeg Kabaddi Cup every year. It includes other sporting competitions such as soccer and basketball.

And there is the cultural celebration with singing and dancing and food. Hundreds of women in saris crowded under the canopy at the community centre for the musical component at the Winnipeg Kabaddi Cup.

Over by the soccer pitch next to the kabaddi court, a couple of 15-year-old girls wearing soccer uniforms said they enjoyed watching the ancient sport but had no interest in playing it — they’ll stick to soccer.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca