Jeddah hosts maiden Kabaddi tournament in Saudi Arabia

JEDDAH: The maiden national level Kabaddi tournament was held recently in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, providing a new dimension to the popularity of India’s rural game.
The all-India level Kabaddi tournament was hosted at Jeddah by Indian Fraternity Forum, Karnataka chapter.
The tournament was held as part of the Fraternity Fest and with the slogan ‘Festival of Friendship’, at the Shabbabiyah ground in Jeddah.
The 12 teams from various Indian Sports lovers from across the Kingdom participated in the one-day tournament, according to organizers.
The Bhatkal Community, Jeddah won the cup by defeating Dammam’s Navayuga Kukkaje.

“We received the overwhelming response from Indian community in the tournament and from each of the team members,” said Arif Bajpe of the Kabaddi organizing committee.
He told that for the first time in Saudi Arabia new format of the Kabbadi matches have applied as it being implemented in India for the national game.
Arif said that it was overwhelmed response from the audience to participating teams who came from over 1000 KM from different regions of Kingdom.
Compared to cricket and football, Kabaddi is yet to be popularized among the NRI community in the Gulf region - yet it managed to garner a significant number of spectators. Karnataka and Punjab NRIs living in the Middle-East mostly love the game.

Kabaddi is a game played between two teams on a clay court which is about half the size of a basketball court. Players must stay within the court's boundary line. If any part of the player's body touches the ground outside the boundary line the player is declared out and gets sent off, unless this happens while the players are caught in a scrum.
This once-popular sport got a facelift abroad last year with the establishment of the World Kabaddi League in London, to conduct Kabbadi matches in 14 cities across three continents and five countries with $570,000 prize money.