What is India's national sport?

*What is India's national sport?*

We would love to think that its *cricket*, but then we think harder and consider *kabaddi* and finally lock down on *hockey*.

But the shocker is that India doesn't have a national sport or game. That's right, in reply to an *RTI petition in 2012*, the *under secretary, Union ministry of youth affairs and sports, Mr. SPS Tomar* said " I haven't come across any order or notification in the ministry saying hockey is the national game. It's known to be a national game in general parlance."

This created a huge uproar within the hockey community, and the debate has been sidelined but not concluded as yet.

But lets leave that on the side for a bit and talk about another age old sport, the sport of kabaddi, which is enjoying the limelight thanks to season 4 of Star Sports *Pro Kabaddi league*.

While you are enjoying the fast paced game, here's a little history about it.

It is said that Kabaddi originated in the state of *Tamil Nadu*, where it was derived from group hunting and village defense. Other forms of Kabaddi also originated from northern parts of India. But interestingly the modern standardised version is identified with *Maharashtra* since that is where the process of standardising the rules took place from *1915 to the 1920s*.

Kabaddi received international exposure during the *1936 Berlin Olympics*, where a match was demonstrated by India. The game was introduced in the *Indian National Games at Calcutta in 1938*.

Internationally, kabaddi has been played at *the Asian Games since 1990*. The Indian team has performed in a stellar and consistent manner, winning *all 7 Gold medals*.

Kabaddi was also included in the *Asian Indoor Games* during their 2nd edition at Macau-SAR China in 1997 and in 1998 it was included in *Asian Beach Games* thus making it the only game that is being played in all the 3 versions of Asian Games.

Kabbadi is one of the national sports of Nepal and is played and taught at a very early age in most primary schools.

So next time you're watching it, remember Kabaddi is *another feather in India's hat on the global stage"*.

Let's hope the Olympics also say "kabaddi, kabaddi, kabaddi" soon.
:)

Have a great day.

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