All About Kabaddi - Business Daily

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All About Kabaddi

Friday, March 29, 2019 13:26

By JOHN MUTUA

At Kasarani Safaricom Stadium, a team of about 20 young men circle and jump on each other as women go through the paces on a scorching Thursday afternoon.

Caroline Githaiga, a career hostess and Perpetuate Mbutu, a corporal, are part of the team that is running on the artificial track.

They are part of the national Kabaddi team that is preparing for the World Cup set for Malaysia next month. Kabaddi, a traditional Indian competition that is a combination of rugby and wrestling, is slowing gaining a following in Kenya.

The players do not wear protective gear or play with balls. All they use is their quick mind and stamina.

The game rules are simple. Players must weigh not more than 75 kilogrammes for women and 85 kgs for men. A team scores points when an attacker (raider) crosses into the opposition half and touches the defenders (stoppers). The kabaddi court is smaller than a rugby pitch, measuring 13 meters by 10 metres with several boundaries that opponents must step into to score points. For a raid to be successful, an attacker must cross into the borderline without being tagged while shouting “kabaddi” as many times. Failure to do this, the raider scores no point and the opposite team gets a point for a successful defensive play. After a five-minute break, teams switch sides. The one that started by defending reverts to kick-off play by attacking.

A raider can score bonus points by touching the bonus line in the opponent’s half. A team stops a raider by ensuring he or she does not cross over back to his or her side’s half. A single raid cannot last more than 30 minutes in the opponent’s court.

Simon Kibura is one of the Kenyans who plays kabaddi. His body frame looks like that of a bantamweight boxer or a rugby player. The 28-year-old is one of pioneer Kabaddi professional who played in India. He played for Bengal Warriors between 2014 and 2016 in the Indian pro-kabaddi league where he hit a 45 per cent success rate in raids, making him one of the best raiders that time.

Simon says that for raiders like him, a muscular and well-built body counts so much that it is the line between success and failure.

“I had to put on weight to attain strength because the heavier one is, just like sprinters in the 100 metres and 200 metres, the faster and powerful you become,” Simon told BDLife.

He represented Kenya at the 2016 World Cup in Punjab, India and later the East African championship in Tanzania last year. For now, he is fast spreading the new game among locals and has his own club at Clay City along Thika Road.

The women players are equally fit, as evidenced by their quick moves as they tap their opponents and step back to their side before they are sandwiched.

Caroline weighs 73 kgs and her love for the game started three years ago after seeing it on Google. The mother-of-two says that she got a Google pop-up on her laptop that drew her attention to the game.

“I got interested and started watching clips of the game. I inquired on Facebook and members of a kabaddi group invited me to join,” she says.

She joined at the beginning of this year. To ensure she is strong enough, she jogs in the evenings from her Riara Road home to Jaffery Sports Club, about a five-kilometer run.

“Just like any other game, mental and physical fitness is a must. How am I going to tap the opponent and escape? When they sandwich me, how am I going to escape and touch the middle line and score the point without being fit?” she says.

For Perpetuate, she bumped into the game when she came for athletics training at Kasarani stadium.

“In 2016, I came to train for athletics and then I saw kabaddi players and I got curious. I wanted to learn and be part of the team,” she says.

She started as a stopper, became a raider but now she is no longer playing the game competitively. A shoulder injury pushed her into the management.

For a game that involves pure physical contact, players are prone to knocks and injuries. Perpetuate dislocated her shoulder in 2015 during a mixed game with men.

“I was trying to tackle a raider who was too big and strong. He was a rugby player and I dislocated my shoulder,” the soft-speaking police officer says.

Out of the fear of being injured, she opted to recruiting more women to join the game. Now there are over 60 female kabaddi players registered under the national federation. The game has also spread beyond Nairobi and there are kabaddi clubs in Murang’a, Kiambu, Githurai, Kirigiti, Siaya, and Kakamega.

Perpetuate says the game is easy for women as long as one is fit.

“Kabaddi is a fun game, just master the steps. It is like rugby only that we do not use the ball,” she says.