Friday October 7, 2022, saw the launch of the VIVO Pro Kabaddi League’s (PKL) ninth season.
Dabang Deli began their title defense with a resounding victory over U Mumba at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru.
As always with professional kabaddi, the match was exciting, the player’s uniforms were colorful, and a TV audience that numbered in the millions tuned in.
The version of kabaddi played by Dabang Deli, U Mumba and the other 10 teams that compete in the PKL is one that has become known by players and fans around the world. 온라인바카라
But the blaring speakers and bright lights often mean people forget about the sport’s rich, rural history. A history which started over 4,000 years ago.
The Origins Of Kabaddi
The exact date and place of kabaddi’s invention is a mystery.
However, most people can agree that the sport was first played between 4,000-5,000 years ago in Tamil Nadu, one of India’s southernmost states.
Some suggest the game was created as a way of training people how to attack and defend in groups for both fighting and hunting purposes.
Others believe kabaddi was inspired by ancient, epic poems that told stories about war and battlefield heroics.
Either way, it’s a well-known fact that kabaddi was – and is – a hugely popular pastime throughout South Asia, especially in India, Iran and Bangladesh.
Most regions within these countries had their own, slightly different version of the game, many of which are still played today.
Despite there being regional differences, the basics of kabaddi have remained largely unchanged through the centuries, with a focus on solitary attack and group defense.
It is this simplicity that makes kabaddi so fun to both play and watch, ensuring the sport’s survival from 2,000 B.C to the current day.
The version of kabaddi played in the PKL was first created in the 1920s when an official ruleset was formalized and published by an Indian committee.
The sport grew in popularity over subsequent years with kabaddi even being demonstrated in Germany just prior to the Berlin Olympics in 1936.
However, it was only after South Asian countries like India and Bangladesh gained independence post-World War Two that international matches began to be played, leading to renewed interest in kabaddi during the 1970s.
Eventually these occasional internationals were replaced by the first Asian Kabaddi Championship, which took place in 1980.
A decade later kabaddi was introduced to the Asian Games. Then in the early 2000s another standalone tournament, the Kabaddi World Cup, was launched.