Kabaddi, the game of team pursuit, is a well known popular game in North India has caught up in the other parts of the world too and i guess it has been spread across the world due to the fact that people form punjab made efforts. If you dont agree with me on this point then write me back with one good reason.
It is assumed that it got introduced approx 4000 years back, although we do not have not seen any fact being claimed about its origin. Kabaddi can be seen the mix of two mordern stops Rugby and Wrestling. Its a team sport and emphasis more on self-defence.
Kabaddi being a non-expensive sport had been taken much of its place in rural areas. It does not requires a big playeing area and neither does it requires any equipment to play. All it needs is the determintation, strength and quick reflexes.
The origin
Kabbadi is believed to be one of the oldest games of Indian origin. More than 4000 years ago the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata describes a battle between the warriors Abhimanyu of the Pandavas with the Cauravas inside the enemy camp and managed to penetrate their seven tiered defense, but died because he did not know the way out.
Kabaddi is basically an outdoor team game played on level and soft ground which requires both skill and power and combines the characteristics of wrestling and rugby. It was originally meant to develop self defense in addition to responses to attack and reflexes of counter attack by individuals and defense by groups or teams. It is believed that Kabaddi was invented to develop a defensive responses by an individual against group attacks and group’s responses to an individual attack. This is the only combative sport in which offence is an individual effort whereas defense is a group effort.
In the game of Pithhoo, as in most sports/games, there are two teams being made which compete with each other. The number of players in each time can be any where from two and more depending upon the number of kids show up to the village ground. The field size is also not defined it can be any where around 1000 sq ft to 10000 sq feet , Usually in villages no one cares about the size of the field.
There is no special equipment required for this game except a soft rubber ball and few flat disc stones (usually 5 to 6 are enough). The stones are placed on each other, thus making a small tower and kept in the center of the playground. One of the team is given a chance to be a striker and the other is called fielder team. The captain members of both the teams stand facing each other at a distance of 10 to 15 feet, and the ball being placed between them, respective team members make queue and line up behind their respective team captain. The game is ready to start now.
The captain of the striker team tries to hit the stone tower with the ball with a direct hit, If the ball does not hits the stones and is caught by any of the opposite team member after a single bounce, the captain is marked out of the game and have to sit outside the field and wait till his team has finished their turn. This way each member tries of the striker team and if is marked out have to sit outside the field, till all members are out, then the opposite team gets to be the striker team. The interesting part, which is the main fun, happens when the ball hits the stone tower, guess what happens ??.
The stones scatter on the ground and everybody can be seen running around the field. At this time the striker team members try to fix the stone tower back without getting hit by the ball. The job of the fielder team is to hit the ball to as many members of the striker team before the striker team members can buildup the stone tower back up.
You could easily see a lot of co-ordination and teamwork being exercised during this chaos by both teams as both the teams strives hard. This chaos ends if members of striker team are unable to build the stone tower back up and get hit by the ball or they successfully build the tower. If the tower is built back, the striker team can accumulate points or can also call any one member of their team from outside of the field is any one was sent out. Once all the members of the striker team are out, then the opposite team gets a chance to be the striker the game starts again.
Now this exciting game is not seen much in cities and big towns, but still can be seen among the kids in villages of Punjab.
Let us know if you have ever played this game in your life , I would like to hear what was your experience and how did you feel about it ?
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