Nizampur - The cradle of Indian kabaddi

Manjeet Chillar (C) at his hometown – Nizampur

Take a Punjab roadways bus heading northwest out of Delhi and you are likely to reach this sheepish town called Nizampur. Away from the hustle and bustle of the surrounding big cities, its calmness and lack of commotion is almost overwhelming. No other city has as big an impact on Indian kabaddi as this shanty village – Nizampur.

As I got off, I wasn’t sure of what to expect. It was at a small tea shop near the bus stand that I came across this very old man preaching about the values sport imparts and how we should all embed them in our lives. Needless to say, I was all ears.

90-year-old Ram Charan Das has been living his entire life in Nizampur and like most people around him, was bounded by a common passion – kabaddi. In 1946 (a year before independence, as he put it), he was persuaded to play against a visiting team from a neighborhood village.

He described his experience as, “The day of the match arrived. I made my way to the ground. The ground! It was on the great square, near the citadel – a barren waste, almost destitute of grass. The court was pitched right next to the patch of cement, since that was considered the smoothest spot. There was no rolling or levelling – simply the bare Earth, worn by the passage of feet into countless little hills and holes and plentifully sprinkled with small stones. But we didn’t mind, kabaddi afterall was all we lived for.’’

It, thus, goes without saying that this scarcely populated village with population of around 3,000 continues to remain obsessed with the sport. The uniqueness of the place is that atleast one boy from every family is a kabaddi player and around 40 of them are leading their trade in various teams across India.

Nizampur is well represented in the Pro Kabaddi League

The present Indian captain Rakesh Kumar is a product of this village and so is Indian player Manjeet Chillar apart from many others. Dabang Delhi defender Amit Singh Chhillar also belongs to this crux. A superlative defender, Amit has proved his mettle many times for Dabang Delhi in the first edition of PKL. He finished as one of the top 10 defenders with 29 points in the first edition.

Amit was recruited as a left corner specialist for Dabang Delhi and the 24-year-old did not disappoint as he clinched the best moment once and also bagged the best defender award twice in the inaugural season last year.

The locals here couldn’t stop raving about his back hold which helps him lift the rival raiders to stop them from returning home. His swift movement allows him to get crucial touches while raiding and earn his team points; all of which he mastered here in the kucha-mud courts.

I was told the whole town stayed hooked to their TV sets watching Amit and his peers during PKL last season; here’s hoping the euphoria doesn’t die down and the cradle that this place is, for Indian kabaddi continues to churn out stars for us.