Budhiya Kabaddi, also known as chi, is a sport being revived here in Nalanda by the Nava Nalanda Sanskritic Gram and spearheaded by Deepak. A big tournament between four teams will be held next week (Feb 17th-20th).
Budhiya Kabaddi is played with two teams of nine players. The arena is a large oval with two circles equidistant from one another. One team (minus one player) stands in one circle. The other teammate stands in the opposite circle and cannot leave it until there is only one opponent left. The opposing team spreads around the large oval taking up various defensive positions (lineman, etc).
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| Deepak discussing the four teams |
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| The players learning the rules of the game |
To play, a member(runner) from the team in the circle leaves the circle and tries to tag an opponent. Once tagged, that player is out. The catch is that the runner has to say “chi” (chee) in one breath only and must get back to the circle before he has to take another breath. If he runs out of air and hasn’t made it back to the circle, he runs the risk of being tagged by the opponent. If tagged, he will be out. Because of the audible “chi” sound, the runners sound like bees!
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| A runner |
There are other strategies to the game, like using the second circle as a safe spot if you run out of air. But once in that second circle, you cannot leave until a teammate from the other circle releases you by holding your hand and taking you back to the original circle. More than one player can be released from that circle at one time, forming a chain of players running back to the original circle! During the release time, though, no tagging of the opposing (non-circle) team can occur.
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| Releasing his teammates! |
I had the opportunity to watch two of the initial practices of the four teams. I was glad to have this opportunity because it has given me the chance to become familiar with some of the players and already I can see the different skills and strategies! I also took some photos, one of which ended up in the newspaper!!
For the four day tournament, two games will be played each day. On the last day, the winning team will receive a trophy and 2000 rupees, plus the prestige of being champions!
As I watched the practices, I also observed that the next generation of Budhiya Kabaddi players were already practicing. The local boys from Wat Thai were copying the adults and had started to play their own miniature version of Budhiya Kabaddi!
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| The next generation practicing! |
One week before the tournament and the rules of the game have changed for the better (to make it more challenging). The distance between the two circles has increased and now only two players plus the 'Budhiya' can be in the second circle. Only one player at a time can be released from the second circle.
ReplyDeleteWith these changes, the game is now that much more exciting. The tournament should be a good one!!