One raider, seven defenders, and a thirty-second breath
Kabaddi pits two squads of seven in a contact duel rooted in South Asian tradition. A single raider crosses the midline to tag defenders and scramble home before tackle, boundary, or clock ends the raid. Modern rules crystallized in 1920s India; the game later became Bangladesh's national sport.
Ancient Indian texts hint at similar contests, and stories link Abhimanyu's Chakravyuha raid, Krishna, and the Buddha to early forms; Ronojoy Sen places origins in the Vedic era roughly 1500–500 BCE. Regional names still map the map: chedugudu, ha-du-du, sadugudu, hu-tu-tu, and more. Etymology is murky—Tamil kai and pidi ("hold hands") or Joseph Alter's reading of beginning-plus-roar. Standard style uses a rectangular court for Asian Games play; Punjabi circle-style kabaddi keeps a round field. Competitive mats replaced open dirt: men's courts about 10 by 13 meters, women's 8 by 12.
Maharashtra wrote the first modern code in 1921, revised it for a 1923 Baroda national meet, showed the game at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and folded it into India's National Games by 1938. Federations followed—All India Kabaddi Federation in 1950, Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India in 1972—then Asian championships from 1980 and full Asian Games status in Beijing 1990. Officials include a referee, two umpires, and scorers; green, yellow, and red cards police fouls. Teams keep three to five substitutes and up to five swaps per match.
A raid often lasts at most thirty seconds. Each successful tag scores; a tackle, timeout, or baulk failure awards the defense a point. Out players leave until their side scores (bonus and penalty points do not revive). Clearing all seven opponents yields two extra "all out" points and restores the other side. Men's halves run twenty minutes, women's fifteen, with a five-minute break and two timeouts per half. Tied knockout games can force five nominated raids with every player on the mat. The drama stays simple: one breath-held raider against a wall of hands.
Source: Kabaddi
