Kabaddi seeks Olympic nod

Dubai: After conquering Asia, the Chairman of the World Kabaddi Federation (WKF) has set his sights on having the sport included in the Olympic Games.

“We give ourselves five years to achieve this goal of making it as an Olympic sport,” Vijay Pal Sharma, Chairman, WKF told Gulf News on the sidelines of the Peace and Sport Forum Dubai 2013.

“It is a realistic goal for us. We have made it as a sport at the Asian Games and now it is right that we look at the Olympics,” he added.

Kabaddi, a game played between two teams of seven players, in which participants take turns to chase and try to touch members of the opposing team without being captured by them, has been an Asian Games event since Beijing 1990. However, during the course of the World Kabaddi Cup held in Punjab, India, last year the WKF received a huge boost when it managed to secure seven new members, including Great Britain, US and Canada.

“We had just 14 members on the WKF and within a year we are up to 21 countries. We have started new initiatives wherein we are visiting new member countries and conducting clinics and workshops so that we continue in our drive to popularise our sport,” Sharma said.

“Kabaddi is a sport that maintains a balance between the physical and the mental and hence we see a bright future for our sport. Kabaddi and wrestling, already an Olympic sport, have so much in common. We think this can be the link to get into the Olympic movement,” he added.

“It is this blend between the physical and the mental that have been the major factors for kabaddi getting global attention. Today we have several countries who want clinics and workshops to be held. And in recent times, we have managed to find a link between our sport and peace. It’s just a matter of time when we will be able to achieve our goal of making this jump to the world stage.”