The Rise of Kabaddi: From Mud Akharas to a Global Sports Economy

One Game, Two Breaths and Thirty Seconds

Kabaddi's greatest quality is that it requires no expensive equipment. No ball, no bat, no racket. Just a flat piece of ground, seven players a side, and a single word that the raider must repeat continuously — "kabaddi, kabaddi, kabaddi". That word became the name of the game, and it is also the measure of the raider's breath. The rule is simple: the raider must cross into the opponent's half, touch or catch a defender, and return within thirty seconds — and the "cant" must not break on the way back. If the chant breaks, the raid ends and the raider is out.

That simplicity is kabaddi's strength and has also been its limitation. Played for centuries in the villages of South Asia, the sport long remained confined to the category of a "local game". The shift began in the 1990s with formal inclusion in the Asian Games, but the real surge came in 2026 when the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) launched in India. Within a decade, kabaddi became not just a television product but an economy of franchise valuations, player auctions, broadcast rights and grassroots academies.

Rules: Complexity Hidden Inside Simplicity

From the outside kabaddi looks straightforward, but on the mat it becomes a complex game of strategy. A standard court is 13 metres long and 10 metres wide, divided into two halves. Each team has seven players on the mat and five on the bench. A thirty-second raid time, a five-second struggle time and a thirty-second timeout — these three numbers set the rhythm of the entire game.

Scoring is equally structured. Touching a defender and returning safely is one point. Touching a defender standing inside the bonus line earns an extra point. A defender stopping the raider earns one point. When the entire opposing team is out, the raider's team scores a "lona" — two additional points, and the entire team returns to the mat. Beyond this, the "super raid" (three or more points in a single raid) and the "super tackle" (a tackle made when three or fewer defenders remain) heighten the drama, because either can turn a match in a single moment.

The most strategically significant element in modern kabaddi is the do-or-die raid. When a raider has completed three consecutive raids without a point, the fourth raid must produce a point or the raider is out. This rule is the biggest source of late-match drama — and the biggest headache for coaches, because one wrong decision can upset the balance of an entire match.

From Clay to Mat: The Long Road to Standardisation

Kabaddi's traditional form was played in clay pits, where falls caused injuries and weather affected play. Standardisation at international level was slow. In India, responsibility for organising the sport rests with the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (now the Kabaddi Federation of India), while the International Kabaddi Federation governs rules and competitions internationally.

The move to mat surfaces changed both the speed and the safety of the game. The mat version requires players to slide and turn more sharply, making the sport more attractive to viewers but also increasing injury risk. Knees, ankles and shoulders are the most affected joints. For this reason modern teams have made physiotherapy, strength and conditioning, and recovery protocols mandatory — a change that was absent from the traditional akhara culture.

From the Asian Games to a Global Stage

The Asian Games played a decisive role in giving kabaddi international recognition. At the 2026 Beijing Asian Games kabaddi was given medal-sport status, and it has featured in every edition since. India dominated the men's event for a long period, and the Indian women's team has also been a leading force.

But one-sided dominance is never a healthy situation for any sport. In recent years Iran has emerged as the most serious challenge in men's kabaddi. The Iranian team's strength is its defence — specifically the physical robustness and tackling technique of players drawn from wrestling traditions. Iranian players have also established significant places in the Pro Kabaddi League, giving both countries' games an opportunity to learn from each other.

Kabaddi has also expanded into Bangladesh, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Poland, Kenya and England. In some of these countries it arrived through diaspora communities, in others through the efforts of local federations. But global expansion still struggles with a basic problem: most countries have no domestic league, which limits the path for players to become professional.

2026: The Year That Changed the Sport's Direction

The launch of the Pro Kabaddi League is regarded as a watershed in kabaddi's history. Before it, Indian kabaddi players sought shelter in government jobs, railways or police departments — that was their main source of financial security. The league changed the equation. Suddenly players were auctioned, teams began spending lakhs at auctions, and crowds began filling stadiums.

The league's format was inspired by T20 cricket — franchise-based teams, city identities, a fixed calendar, durations tailored for television. In the early seasons a Jaipur side won the title and the league immediately captured audience attention. In later years teams such as Patna built their own identities, and the league gave players from smaller towns national recognition.

One season was cancelled because of the lockdown, but the league retained its audience base on return. Rebuilding after the pandemic required starting afresh — bringing crowds back, reviewing broadcast arrangements and restructuring team costs. This period also showed that the league's strength does not rest only on television ratings but on its supply chain: the continuous availability of grassroots players.

Economics: Where the Money in Kabaddi Comes From

Any sport's sustainable business model rests on three pillars: broadcast rights, sponsorship and ticketing. In kabaddi, broadcast rights are the largest pillar. In India the league is broadcast through a major sports network, and in several seasons kabaddi has recorded impressive audience numbers in its time slot. This is significant because kabaddi had to find space in a market dominated by cricket — where audience attention, advertiser budgets and media coverage are all limited.

The second pillar is sponsorship. Indian corporates have viewed kabaddi as a "reliable family sport" — a sport with contact rather than violence, whose players' biographies are connected to rural India, and whose audience is broad. Team sponsors target local markets, which spreads the league's economic base geographically.

The third pillar is ticketing and stadium experience. This is currently the weakest link. Compared with cricket, kabaddi's share of ticket revenue is small, and many matches are held in smaller stadiums with limited capacity. But this is precisely where the greatest room for improvement lies — because the thrill of a raid or a tackle comes through on television, but nothing replaces the sound of "kabaddi-kabaddi" heard from the stands.

The Players: From Village Soil to the Auction Stage

Kabaddi's most inspiring story is that of its players. Most top Indian kabaddi players come from small towns and villages, where the first playing field is a school courtyard or a flat piece of farmland. The league gave these players a stage where their names appeared on television and their earnings changed.

Some names have become symbols of this change. Pawan Kumar Sherawat has been known for his speed and athleticism. Anup Kumar is remembered for team leadership and raiding intelligence — he also captained the Indian team. Ajay Thakur is recognised for aggressive raiding. Rahul Chaudhari helped make the league's early years identifiable through his raiding. All-rounders such as Manjeet Chhillar established the importance of balance between defence and raiding. Pardeep Narwal's pace changed the standard of raiding in the league. Iranian players such as Fazel Atrachali demonstrate that the league is no longer a stage only for Indian players. Young raiders such as Naveen Kumar show that the league's supply chain is capable of producing new talent.

But an inequality is also evident. Earnings for the top few dozen players have risen sharply, while levels below that — district, state and domestic competitions — still offer inadequate income. Players not picked at auction often depend on secondary employment for their livelihood. Changing this structure will require greater investment in state leagues, women's leagues and junior competitions.

Women's Kabaddi: Growing Fast, but Unevenly

Women's kabaddi has established a solid international presence. Since the women's event was added to the Asian Games, the Indian team has performed consistently well. Domestically, women's kabaddi has begun to receive separate broadcast and separate sponsorship, but compared with the men's league it is still at an early stage.

The biggest obstacle here is not only money but social acceptance and safety. In many regions, girls pursuing sport as a career remains a point of struggle at the family and community level. In addition, gaps in physical safety, injury management, menstrual health and nutrition facilities limit the career span of women players. Where federations have given concrete attention to these aspects, rapid progress in the women's game has followed.

Iran's Challenge and the Asian Balance

The healthiest trend in international kabaddi is Iran's rise. Where a gold medal once seemed almost assured for India, every competition now offers genuine rivalry. The Iranian team's strength lies in its defensive structure and physical capacity, while the Indian team's strength lies in the variety and experience of its raiding.

An important aspect of this balance is that it has forced improvements in India's own performance. When competition is genuine, training methods, selection processes and strategy all improve. Beyond Iran, Bangladesh is also making notable progress, and countries such as South Korea maintain competitiveness through technical efficiency.

Technology: When Data Steps onto the Mat

Traditionally, kabaddi strategy rested on experience and instinct — which raider raids when, which defender is placed in which position: these decisions came from the coach's eye. In modern kabaddi, data analysis has begun to change that.

Teams now statistically analyse opponents' preferred angles of attack, their success rates, defenders' tackling techniques and their weaknesses. In-match decisions — when to take a timeout, when to rotate a player — are now based on pre-planned schemes and real-time data.

The most direct effect has been on the viewing experience. Where a raid's outcome was once seen as dependent on the raider's courage, viewers now also understand that a raid is a calculation — where the opposing cover is positioned, who is standing on the bonus line, which defender is occupied in a second tackle. This shift places kabaddi among the sports whose data-literate audiences demand new forms of analysis, and that is a new channel for audience engagement.

Injury, Safety and Player Welfare

Kabaddi's physical risk cannot be ignored. Rapid changes of direction in a raid, absorbing full body weight in a tackle, and slipping on the mat — together these put stress on knees, ankles and shoulders. In traditional training culture, a "tolerate the pain" mentality was common, but in the era of professional leagues that thinking is changing.

Today top teams have dedicated physiotherapists, sports nutritionists and strength and conditioning coaches. Managing a player's presence on the mat — load management — is now a strategic decision. But these facilities are largely limited to league level. At state and district level the absence of basic injury management remains a major problem, and this is why many talented players drop out early in their careers.

Grassroots: Where Everything Begins

Any league's durability depends on its grassroots system. In kabaddi this system has traditionally been strong — schools, villages and local competitions have produced talent for years. But the system is unorganised and unstructured.

This has three concrete consequences. First, talent identification is irregular — some regions produce more players because the sporting tradition there is strong, while equally talented players in other regions never become visible. Second, there is wide inequality in training quality — a few academies use scientific methods, most do not. Third, there is an absence of age and medical records, which makes both selection and injury management difficult.

These problems will not be solved by league expansion alone, but by structured state-level competitions, restoring kabaddi in school sport, certification programmes for coaches and player databases.

Broadcast, Audiences and the Language of the Game

A distinctive strength of kabaddi is the geographic and social spread of its popularity. The sport is played in every corner of South Asia and its audience is not confined to metropolitan centres. This is why commentary in regional languages is not merely a convenience but a necessity. Commentary heard in a regional language makes the sport "one's own" for the viewer, and this is the factor that has given kabaddi depth compared with other sports.

However, this broadcast success is uneven. There is a large gap between the production quality available at league level and coverage of grassroots competitions. Any sport's full ecosystem becomes strong only when lower-level competitions also find audiences — because that is where players come from and where stories are made.

The Road Ahead: Five Concrete Priorities

Kabaddi's last decade has been impressive, but the next decade's challenges are different.

First, inequality in player income. If the league's prosperity remains confined to the top hundred players, the supply of talent will gradually dry up. Prize money in state leagues and junior competitions must increase.

Second, parallel development of women's kabaddi. The women's league needs equal status not symbolically but in broadcast, sponsorship and facilities.

Third, a real strategy for internationalisation. Exhibition matches alone do not spread a sport. Establishing domestic leagues in other countries, training local coaches and providing technical support to local federations are essential.

Fourth, player welfare and medical infrastructure. Injury management, insurance and post-career rehabilitation are things that both leagues and federations should treat as shared responsibility.

Fifth, transparent governance. Any sport's long-term credibility depends on the transparency of its administration — selection processes, financial accounting and anti-doping systems all require clarity.

Conclusion: A Sport That Does Not Lose Its Roots

Kabaddi's greatest strength is that, while modernising, it has not lost its original identity. It is still a sport that a village child can play without any facilities, and at the same time it is a television product with franchises, auctions and data analysis. This duality is not a contradiction but the sport's real characteristic.

A sport that stays connected to its roots stays connected to its audiences. Kabaddi's next decade will depend on this balance — whether it can carry its commercial success to the grassroots, whether it can give the women's game an equal stage, and whether it can take its international expansion beyond announcements. The answers to these three questions will determine whether kabaddi remains a decade-long phenomenon or becomes a permanent global sports economy.