The New Zealand Kabaddi Women’s team is waiting with bated breath to appear in the Kabaddi World Cup matches due to commence in India on November 30, 2013.
Sponsored by the New Zealand Kabaddi Federation, the team will play for the first time in the global contest.
Rigorous training
Tara Singh of Finlay Superette in Manurewa is leading the team.
Doaba Sports & Cultural Club President Indirajit Kalkat said that the team has been training for the past three months under the Federation banner.
“We are proud of the team,” he said.
He said that Kabaddi matches were held as a part of Diwali Festival at Sri Kalgidhar Sahib Gurdwara in Takanini.
Among the participating teams were Doaba Sports & Cultural Club, Bay of Plenty Club Tauranga, Azad Club and Hamilton Club.’
Doaba Sports & Cultural Club won the Tournament, while Bay of Plenty Club Tauranga was the Runner-Up.
“I am very happy with the interest evinced by New Zealanders in Kabaddi. I am also pleased that the recent matches held to celebrate Diwali were also successful. I thank our sponsors, supporters, players, the New Zealand Kabaddi Federation, the New Zealand Kabaddi women’s team and the New Zealand Supreme Sikh Council and the Doaba Sports & Cultural Club,” he said.
Real Sport
The following is an extract from an article written for Indian Newslink by Navtej Randhawa (Indian Newslink, April 1, 2011):
Kabaddi is the ‘Real Sport’ of South Asia.
We can all boast about watching Rugby and Rugby League but how many of us actually understand the game?
Kabaddi is big and growing at the grass-root level in New Zealand.
It is an exhilarating sport, whether you are watching or playing Kabaddi.
It has fast action, is competitive and utterly unpredictable.
Kabaddi, a game once played by Punjabi farmers after the harvest to show who was the fittest, is not for those with weak hearts.
Players wear no shoes or any other protective gear, just shorts.
There would be lot of grabbing, tackling, crouching and twisting. It is a big spectator sport. It is a game of two, 20-minute halves or set number of raids.
Stoppers & Raiders
Each team consists of five or six stoppers and four to five raiders. At any given time, only four stoppers and one opposing raider will be allowed to take part in the field.
The object of the game is for a raider to attack the opposing semi-circle of stoppers, touch one of the stoppers and make it back to his starting point without being caught.
The raider would have 30 seconds to complete his raid.
Points system
A successful raid will result in one point for the raider’s team.
On the other hand, every time a stopper prevents the raider from going back to his starting point, the stoppers’ team gets one point.
The first point of every match is worth 1.5 points so a match can never be a tie.
The team with the most points wins.
In New Zealand, we are still ‘new children on the block,’ compared to established Kabaddi Leagues around the world.
Apart from India, the two other major Kabaddi players are Canada and England.
There are eight established Kabaddi Clubs all over the North Island and when summer hits, it is show time!
Photo :
1.
2. winners of the Kabaddi event was Doaba Sports & Cultural Club
Pictures by Harjinder Singh Basiala (Punjabi Herald)
