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Jashn Kabaddi Ka! – Celebrating Kabaddi, a sport Made in India

Tuesday November 08, 2016,

4 min Read

A stadium brimming with people with Light flooding from all directions, highlighting the Indian Blue on the field. The wide LED screens scream India’s name, just like the crowd in the stands.

This is it, the deciding moment, India could win or it could lose. A moment binding the entire nation together in a nervous sweat.

AND INDIA WINS AGAIN! Kabaddi World Champion – India, yet again!

The energy ran high in the Kabaddi finals when India yet again proved its mettle to the world. Both Men and Women Kabaddi teams of India have maintained the status of World Champions in the Kabaddi World Cup ever since its inception in 1996. Defeating seasoned teams such as Pakistan and Iran, India yet again won Kabaddi World Cup 2016, hosted right here in Ahmadabad. Indian Kabaddi Teams (both men and women) have continuously won Asian Games since 1990 declaring their dominance all over the world.

One of the oldest sports of Indian origin, Kabaddi is believed to be a 4,000-year-old game originating from ancient India. Popularly known as Hu-Tu-Tu, it creates an influx of affectionate childhood memories of scraped knees and strong friendships. It would not be wrong to say that Kabaddi has been in the veins of every Indian. It is the game of our soil; which every Indian is connected to, yet it has not received the same love like other sports have. 

One of the most popular and indigenous sport of India and yet the domestic facilities for Kabaddi do not match up to the expected standards. The infrastructure around Kabaddi is still not as developed as one would hope. A sport that has received much appreciation in terms of potential and performance, yet the facilities that are available lag far behind as compared to other popular sports.

The conditions are especially stressful in rural areas. Most of the Indian Kabaddi team hails from a small-town background and know the real struggles faced by upcoming athletes. But the dedication to the sport shown by these players is truly commendable as despite harsh difficulties they still manage to perform phenomenally.

"Kabaddi is a well-known sport to every Indian as well as the world and if its scope widens, a lot of young athletes from even the remotest areas of the country will want to gain the deserved platform” said Mr. Anup Kumar, Captain Indian Kabaddi Team. He further added, "I along with most of my team players hail from a rural background, we have seen first-hand the struggles athletes like us face at the grass root level. With this campaign, I urge people to join us and help raise awareness amongst more players - to remotest parts of the country. Help give players better faculties that will motivate youngsters to join Indian Kabaddi Team.”

A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to salute the National Kabaddi Team and is urging people to come forward and contribute for the game of our soil.

‘Jashn Kabaddi Ka!’ – A never seen before initiative – brings respect, honour and glory to the popular Indian sport of Kabaddi. The campaign has a two-fold target. First it is a token of love and appreciation for the Indian Kabaddi Team which has made us proud time and again. And second, raise funds which will then be utilized to provide professional equipment and facilities to encourage new budding players to train in Kabaddi.

Mr. Yuvraj Singh, of the Indian cricket team, has made the first contribution of Rs. 5 Lakhs to 'Jashn Kabaddi Ka’ campaign, said "It's the right time to do our bit for Kabaddi, more so now that we have won the Kabaddi World Cup. While the entire nation has saluted their efforts, more needs to be done to encourage these players. Being a sports person who has been a part of the World Cup winning team, I would like to make this contribution for the development of Kabaddi and encourage more players to take it up with passion and pride."

In the wake of ‘Make in India’ movement – shouldn’t we support Indian Sport too? Jashn Kabaddi Ka is an effort to ensure that our Kabaddi Team continues to make us proud and stands tall in face of competition and this is possible only if each of us extends a little helping hand by contributing.