Dubai: “Kabaddi is the most successful emerging sport in the world,” remarked Anupam Goswami, the league commissioner of Pro Kabaddi and secretary of the organising committee of Kabaddi Masters Dubai 2018, which is commencing from today (Friday) at the Al Wasl Sports Club.
Speaking to Gulf News on the rise of this sport and his efforts to stage this six-nation tournament for the first time in Dubai, Goswami said: “We want the sport to grow and we want it to grow in Dubai. I see a huge potential for this sport here and with the support of Dubai Sports Council we will be able to make it a huge success.”
Kabaddi Masters Dubai, which starts with an India-Pakistan opener today, is expected to lure many youngsters to take up the sport. The rise in popularity of kabaddi has been so much that Goswami stated the viewership for kabaddi is second to Indian Premier League (IPL). “When success comes some of it always surprises you and so did kabaddi. It is so popular in all over South India, extremely popular in Telangana as well as in Andhra Pradesh. They root for kabaddi like nobody’s business. In fact the viewership for Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) there is higher than the viewership for IPL. For Tamil Nadu, this sport is part of everyone in a solid way. It is embedded in Tamil culture that every two or three years that they make a kabaddi-centric movie. Similarly, it is popular in parts of Karnataka, especially Mangalore area.”
Despite knowing cricket as the most popular sport in India, Goswami sounded optimistic and said kabaddi was growing quickly in popularity. “We accept the fact that cricket is a religion in India. What had gone into Kabaddi is very substantive thinking and strategising and investing the resources rightly. It has been a massive effort from everybody in kabaddi — the federation, broadcaster and as well as the franchises that came into the league. So the level of effort and passion are very high.”
When asked whether kabaddi has travelled from being a sport that was confined to the villages into the cities and to other parts of the world, Goswami said: “I would say it differently. It has been a strong working class sport. For example, In Mumbai it is a very strong Mill workers sports. Not too far ago it was an urban sport because all of us may have played kabaddi at some point of time. This is because it is so easy to play this sport. So today Mumbai has today over 1,000 clubs and Tamil Nadu over 700 clubs.”
Goswami then revealed that kabaddi has become a career for many now. “Players like Monu Goyat earns Rs15 million (Dh820,000). There are six players who earn such money in Indian team. The medium salary is now Rs7 to 8 million for a three-month season. The base salary for new young players especially in D category is Rs500,000 to 600,000. In India the entry level salary for any good profession is also Rs500,000 and it is very respectful.”
Goswami revealed that in India there is demand for kabaddi players too. “The public sector recruitment has gone up, the PKL currently employs about 400 to 300 players. There are about six or seven leagues in which players are get Rs200,000 to 300,000. In India over 1,000 athletes are getting their salaries from kabaddi and the sport has become today very respectable. The kabaddi academies are mushrooming and parents are now sending their kids to kabaddi. Many public schools have just started kabaddi too and hence kabaddi is now a good career.
Goswami also said that in Iran too the sport is flourishing. “The Iranians are earning very impressive salaries. It is just a matter of time before more countries start playing this sport.”
Today matches:
At Al Wasl Sports Club
From 6,30pm Match 1: India vs Pakistan
Match 2: Iran vs Korea
