2016: A year when Kabaddi went global!

The inception of the Pro Kabaddi League, and the success of all of its four subsequent editions has laid the foundation for a new era in the sporting world, especially that of India. A sport which was unfancied and termed ‘desi by nature’ suddenly was brimming in complete glory and glamour, after some careful packaging combined with brilliant marketing tactics and powered by the all-reaching medium of television.

2016 was a landmark year for the Kabaddi, with two seasons of Pro Kabaddi, the inaugural edition of the Women’s Kabaddi Challenge and then, like an icing on the cake, the re-birth of the Kabaddi World Cup in India with the host nation being crowned as champions for the third time in a row.

The 3^rd edition of the domestic league took place in January and featured a mature game unlike the all-out attack from the two prior seasons. Raiders lost a wee-bit of their sheen in a season where the defenders snatched the limelight.

PKL 3 also witnessed many young players emerging out of the shadows to leave their own mark on the mat in the likes of Pardeep Narwal, Rohit Kumar, Rishank Devadiga and Nitin Tomar. Patna Pirates claimed the glory by defeating defending champions U Mumba in the final encounter, propelled by the rampant run of young gun Pardeep Narwal who finished with 116 raid points to guide his team to their maiden title.

After a mini lull of four months, PKL which had grown tremendously in terms of stature and viewership, flagged off its fourth edition in July. The month-long caravan emulated its success akin to the previous editions, and the fast-paced, high-octane action ignited the imagination of audiences who followed the sport.

Yet again, it was the Patna Pirates who lay their hands on the coveted trophy, trouncing the Abhishek Bachchan-owned Jaipur Pink Panthers in the finals. Young stars like Ajay Kumar, Amit Hooda, and Deepak Hooda came to the fore for their teams but it was Pardeep Narwal, who out-classed one and all, carrying his form into season four and finishing as the MVP of the league.

Season 4 also witnessed the start of something new, alongside the men of the home-grown sport, new heroes in the capacity of women players took to the kabaddi mat with the inaugural edition of the Women’s Kabaddi Challenge (WKC). The challenge featured three teams replete with the best female kabaddi talent from across the country and captained by experienced campaigners like Mamata Poojary, Abhilasha Mhatre and Tejaswini Bai.

The 40-minute game which has become synonymous with excitement, thrill and edge-of-the-seat excitement saw the women players giving us a perfect final clash wherein the Storm Queens led by Tejaswini Bai defeated the Fire Birds to achieve a last-minute victory.

In fact, so positive was the appeal of the WKC, that it laid the blueprint for the inception of other women’s sports leagues in the future. Mithali Raj, the captain of the Indian women’s cricket team even echoed this opinion saying that the BCCI could start a women’s IPL.

Commenting on the success of the PKL, back in June when Season 4 was on the brink of its beginning, Charu Sharma who has been one of chief architects of Pro Kabaddi was quoted as saying to the Hindu that what Mashal Sports had expected to happen (build the tournament) in 20 years has happened quite soon.

“This Rome has been built in two years,’’ he had said with a glint of triumph.

Banking on the PKL, which transformed the sport of kabaddi, giving it a complete make-over, the organizers rolled out the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup in India with 12 participating nations including teams from five Olympian continents, broadcasting the event in 120 countries, thus effectively darting the presence of the sport on the global map.

The Indian team led by Anup Kumar was better than its competitors by quite a margin and the host nation beat the other kabaddi powerhouse, Iran in the finals to win its third consecutive title. The tournament saw Ajay Thakur literally rise from the ashes after having a dismal run in PKL to finish as the most successful raider of the World Cup.

The spectacle that was heartening to see was the fact that many foreign players, who started off novices, improved themselves during the course of their run at the World Cup, thus giving a new identity to the sport.

Thus, 2016 was all-in-all an action-packed year for Kabaddi, and going by the buzz in the sports arena, the Kabaddi World Cup will occur once every two years while Pro Kabaddi League, will, in the meanwhile, do its duty of roping in a greater audience and popularising the sport such that newer, younger talent is recognized, honed and a wider pool of players is made available, not only in India but also across the world.