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Kabaddi
Kabaddi is an ancient rural Indian sport, popular in India and elsewhere in Asia, and spreading worldwide. The game involves two teams of seven players, on a field roughly half the size of a basketball court (12.5 metres by 10 metres, divided into halves), and played over two 20-minute halves.
The teams take turns in sending a "raider" across to the opposite team's half, where the aim is to tag as many opponents as possible before returning to the home half. Tagged members are then "out" and sent off the field. The whole time that the raider is in the oppositions half, he must hold his breath — to prove it he continually chants a word ("kabaddi" in the Indian form of the game, hence the name). The attributes of a good Kabaddi player is speed, power and big lungs!
In 1936 at the Berlin Olympic Games, it was a little known sport (as it is today!) but it got some international exposure (see more about Kabaddi at the Olympics).
Related Pages
- more unusual sports
- about Kabaddi at the Olympics
- videos of unusual sports
