Kabaddi: Iran emerging as a major kabaddi power

India has been the most successful team, winning seven out of eight gold medals in the Asian Games and three world cup tournaments, followed by Pakistan and Bangladesh. India won every gold medal in Asian games from 1990 until Iran dethroned them as the Asian game gold medalists in 2018.

Iran has rattled the subcontinent’s dominance in the sport since the 2010 Asian Games. They first emerged as a major competitor in the 2010 Asian Games, winning the silver in the final against India. The emerging squad continued to fail in their attempt to defeat India in the 2014 Asian Games and the 2016 World Cup, winning the silver medal in both tournaments.

The West Asian nation today boasts one of the best defenses in the world, Kabaddi, and has come a long way since they entered into the sport.

Zouuuu Zouuuu

A sport similar to Kabaddi has been played in Iran for thousands of years, with the beginnings of the game in a small town with a population of 3.3 lakhs named Gorgan. However, the sport went professional only after a national federation was formed in 1996. It was earlier known as zouuuu zouuuu in Iran and players had to chant zouuuu zouuuu instead of kabaddi-kabaddi during the raids. Before the federation was formed, there were no teams and no competitions in Iran.

The rules of kabaddi were introduced in Iran just after the national formation for kabaddi was formed. The federation then went off scouting for wrestling players to introduce them to Kabaddi. There wasn’t a shortage of wrestlers to pick from in Iran, considering the sport is well established as they have won more than 47 Olympic medals in the sport to date. Many of Iran’s star Kabaddi players, such as Fazel Atrachali started as wrestlers before eventually switching to Kabaddi.

Iran also has a kabaddi league like India, with as many as 16 teams. Unlike India, Kabaddi is not popular around the whole country. Very few people play the sport in cities other than Gorgan, Shehr-e-Sukhteh, Tehran and Isfahan.