Inaugural British Kabaddi League to start on April 9

It will end on May 10 and the matches will be played in Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Wolverhampton.

The launch depicted the prominence of the Midlands in British Kabaddi, and the competing teams comprise four from the region - Birmingham Bulls, Walsall Hunters, Wolverhampton Wolfpack, and Leicester Warriors. The other teams include London Lions, Edinburgh Eagles, Glasgow Unicorns and Manchester Raiders as all the teams fight for the inaugural crown.

According to Inside The Game website, this upcoming league is sponsored by the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Business and Tourism Programme (BATP). In addition, it was created under the English Kabaddi Association and the Scottish Kabaddi Association.

How the League started 

Although kabaddi has always been a common sport in India, it only became popular in 2014 as the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) in India commenced. After its success, kabaddi is slowly gaining traction in other parts of the world as well. Now, the BKL also plans to launch a women's league in 2023 and extend the men’s league from eight to 12 franchises. However, Kabaddi will not be a part of the Commonwealth Games to be held in Birmingham, UK from July 28 to August 8, 2022.

However, the sport has been featured on a regular basis at the Asian Games since 1990. Kabaddi's popularity in England has now transformed into the first kabaddi tournament outside India. President of England Kabaddi Federation and World Kabaddi Federation, Ashok Das, is said to be the man behind the deed. He was also an Indian kabaddi player, who now wants the inaugural season of BKL to promote the sport in the United Kingdom. The league also aims at empowering budding kabaddi athletes in the community and spreading awareness about the importance of physical exercise.

Format of the British Kabaddi League 2022

The British Kabaddi League 2022 will be an eight-team affair and the matches will be played between them. Each team will face another team out of the remaining seven once. So the total number of matches will be 28 and four matches will be held per day. The league will comprise of knockout in the later stages and is slated to take place in four phases across the aforementioned four cities. Glasgow will feature the knockout matches with the final set for British Kabaddi League 2022 on May 1, 2022.

BBC to Broadcast The League

Ashok Das stated, “It is a great honour for us that a reputable public broadcasting service such as the BBC supports this initiative. The broadcast element will enhance the true beauty of the sport." The broadcast will cover radio, digital and television sectors. The broadcaster will promote the sport with mixed martial arts.” Ashok believes that BBC is interested in the project and will broadcast the World Cup as well. According to Ashok, “Every sport ultimately has the Olympic dream, with athletes craving a gold medal.”