Kabaddi and Pro Kabaddi Rules

Introduction

Very popular in India and Pakistan, Kabaddi is a contact team sport that is played between two teams with each team having a total of seven players.

The game is much beloved across southern Asia but it is believed to have originated in ancient India. Kabaddi is also considered an official game in many states of India and is played at state, national and international levels. It is widely enjoyed all over India and even states like Bihar, Punjab, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana have all adopted it as their official game.

Kabaddi is the second most famous sport after cricket. This sport has been played for a very long time and it is played to date. Now, this game has got its recognition and instead of playing it in the village people play this sport in a proper stadium which is telecasted all over the world.

Pro Kabaddi league has been very famous from the day it has been launched in India. It is the most-watched league after IPL. Pro Kabaddi has got a lot of sponsors and fans in India. Watching a sport at the national level which is played by all of us.

Outside the Indian subcontinent, the game is also beloved in other places like Bangladesh where it is even the national game. It is also well-loved in Nepal where it is taught in all the government-owned schools. Among the Indians and Pakistanis in the United Kingdom, the game is enjoyed tremendously.

Across the globe, the game is coordinated and standards are set by the International Kabaddi Federation. The following sections of the piece will focus on the Kabaddi rules and regulations.

Aim of the Game

The main purpose of Kabaddi is to ensure that your side can score more points than the other team all within the time frame given to both sides. For this to happen, each team has to score points via a combination of defense and attack. When in the attack mode, the other team deploys a raider into the side of the opponents.

To score a point, the raider must touch as many members of the opposing team as possible. As for the defenders, their own goal is to ensure that they trap the raider by either pulling him to the ground or by making sure that the raider is not allowed to escape to his side until the time elapses, that is part of the Kabaddi game rules.

The Rules of Kabaddi

• Every team can have a maximum of 12 players out of which only seven can play at any given period. This is one of the cardinals of the Kabaddi rules.
• Owing to the nature of Kabaddi is a contact team sport, the matches are classified based on the age and weight of the players.
• To score a point when raiding the other side, the raider has to take a breath then burst into the side of the opposition and touch one or more players in the opposing team. The raider then runs to their side of the field before breathing in again. That is part of the rules of Kabaddi in points.
• A match of Kabaddi is divided into two halves, each half lasting for 20 minutes and there is also a half-time break of five minutes.
• When a match commences, there is the tossing of a coin and the winner of the toss will decide which side will have the first raid. During the second half of the match, the side that did not have the starting raid will commence the second half with a raid.
• The defending side is the team that is being raider and the players of this team must stop the raiders from touching them and dashing back to their side of the pitch.

Basic rules of Pro Kabaddi

• The team that wins the toss, can decide the court or raid at first and the remaining one goes to the team that has lost the toss. In the second half, the court gets changed along with the team. The second half of the game should continue from where it has ended and with the same number of players. 
• If any part of the body of the player is touched outside of the court then he shall be declared out.
• The players who got out can be easily revived in the way they got out.
• In order to look after the game, there are 6 officials, including the referee, scorer, two umpires, two assistant scorers. Their function is to look after the player and encourage fair game.
• The match is played for the duration of a maximum of 40 minutes, 20 minutes halves including 5 minutes break in between. The players can change the side after the interval 
• One member at a time has to enter the Opposition team and to gain the points, he has to touch the players of the opposite team and return to their area. Similarly, the opposing team will stop that player from returning to their place. 
• On each player getting out, the opponents get one point.

The team with the highest point is announced as the winner of the game. Both teams try to gain points by attacking each other and saving these points by defending.

Skills for Playing Kabaddi

To play the game, it is not enough to have just knowledge about the game. It also requires the grip of certain skills to win the game.

Raid Mechanism

The raid mechanism is the attacking style in Kabaddi. The raider must be as skilled with tactics as the defenders. The raider must be properly skilled to return to the middle line safely. The raider can alone change the whole course of the game. However, it depends on certain characteristics of the raider:

• Entry: The entry of the raider matters the most because it determines the exit too. The defenders also make out the plan about the raider’s moves, so the raider should observe that and make a correct entry. And after entering, the raider should act fast and return to his side. He/she should have the proper knowledge about the moves of the defenders and should act accordingly by judging them quickly. It is up to the raider to judge the moves and return to the middle line safely. The entry of the raider depends on factors such as the raider’s direction of moving or attacking and the position of the raider.
• Chant Continuously: Chanting the word “Kabaddi” is a unique feature of the game which most beginners find quite difficult. But being the rule of the game, the raider should constantly keep on chanting the word or else they’ll be disqualified from the game.
• Footwork: The raider’s foot movement is very important for the game and should be done with proper speed. It depends on several factors like the position of the body, style of the movement, speed, skill, and several such factors. The footwork is subdivided into leading leg raids, shuffled raids, reverse, and natural methods. 
• Retreat: Until and unless the raider returns safely to his side, the raid is not considered successful. So before going on to raid the opponent, the raider should plan about the retreat beforehand. As soon as the raider retreats, they should immediately join the defensive part of their team.

Important Skills

There are mainly two types of skills required in this game which are defensive and offensive skills. The raider must acquire these two skills to touch the opponents with the limbs which will become easy for the raider to score points for the team. Some of the touches that are considered legal in this sport are foot touch, toe touch, kicks, touching the hands through limbs.

Thus, the skills are highly required while playing Kabaddi along with the knowledge of the games and power. These skills help the teams to score more against their opponents and win the match.