| Most recent season or competition: 2023 | |
| Sport | Kabaddi |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2019 |
| First season | 2019 |
| Administrator | International Kabaddi Federation |
| Region | International |
| Most recent champion(s) | M: India (1st title) |
| Most titles | M: Iran and India (1 title each) |
The Junior Kabaddi World Cup, formerly called the Junior World Kabaddi Championship, is an indoor junior international kabaddi competition conducted by the International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) in a standard style. In 2019, the first Junior Kabaddi World Cup was held in Iran and was won by the hosts. [1] The second edition which was also held in Iran was won by India. [2]
With the return of international kabaddi post COVID-19 pandemic and the 2022 Asian Games, the IKF in 2024 announced the calendar with the third Junior Men's World Cup in 2025 and the start of the inaugural Junior Women's World Cup in 2024. [3]
| Year | Host | Final | Third place | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champions | Score | Runner-up | |||||
| 2019 |  Kish Island | Iran | 42–22 |  Kenya |  Bangladesh | and |  Pakistan |
| 2023 | Urmia |  India | 41–33 | Iran |  Nepal | and | Pakistan |
| 2025 | | TBD | |||||
| Year | Host | Final | Third place | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champions | Score | Runner-up | ||||||
| 2024 | | TBD | ||||||
Kabaddi is a contact team sport played between two teams of seven players, originating in ancient India. The objective of the game is for a single player on offense, referred to as a "raider", to run into the opposing team's half of the court, touch out as many of their players as possible, and return to their own half of the court, all without being tackled by the defenders in 30 seconds. Points are scored for each player tagged by the raider, while the opposing team earns a point for stopping the raider. Players are taken out of the game if they are touched or tackled, but return to the game after each point scored by their team from a tag or tackle.
Association football and basketball are the most popular sports in Asia. Cricket is the third most popular sport in Asia, and is most popular in South Asia. Other popular sports in Asia include baseball, badminton and table tennis among others. There are also some traditional sports that are popular in certain regions of Asia, such as the South Asian sports kabaddi and kho-kho, and sepak takraw in Southeast Asia. Top sporting nations/regions in Asia include China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
The India national korfball team is managed by the Korfball Federation of India (KFI), representing India in korfball international competitions.
The India men's national kabaddi team represents India in international men's kabaddi competitions. The team is by far the most successful national kabaddi side of any country, winning gold medals at the Asian Games in 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2022, as well as winning all four Kabaddi World Cup events to date. Pawan Sehrawat is the current captain of the team since 2022.
Kabaddi, is a contact sport, native to the Indian subcontinent. It is one of the most popular sports in India, played mainly among village people. India has taken part in four Asian Games in kabaddi, and won gold in all.
The India women's national kabaddi team represents India in international women's kabaddi competitions.
The Patliputra Stadium at the Patliputra Sports Complex is a multi-purpose stadium in Kankarbagh, Patna, Bihar. The first Women World Cup Kabaddi Championship was held here in its inaugural year, in which 16 countries had participated. It also hosted seven league matches of new Pro Kabaddi League with its home team Patna Pirates from 7 to 10 August in 2014.
Shankarrao Salvi was an Indian Kabaddi player, coach and administrator. He was life president of Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India.
Ajay Thakur is an Indian professional Kabaddi player and the former captain of the Indian National Kabaddi Team.He is widely regarded as one of the Greatest Players Of All Time.He was part of the national teams which won 2016 Kabaddi World Cup and gold medal at 2014 Asian Games. He was awarded the Padma Shri and Arjuna Award in 2019.
Mamatha Poojary is an Indian professional international kabaddi player. She is the former captain of the Indian women's Kabaddi team and has been awarded the Rajyotsava Prashasti, the second-highest award of the Government of Karnataka. On 2 September 2014 she was conferred with the Arjuna Award by President Pranab Mukherjee in recognition of her achievements in Kabaddi.
Punjabi kabaddi, also called circle style kabaddi, is a contact sport that originated in the Punjab region, in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. There are a number of traditional Punjabi kabaddi styles traditionally played in the Punjab region. Similar to standard kabaddi, circle style kabaddi is also played at state and international levels. Starting in 2010, the Punjab government has periodically administered an international tournament called the Kabaddi World Cup, which has always been won by the India national team, except the 2020 tournament, which was played in Pakistan and won by Pakistan.
The AFC Women's Futsal Asian Cup, previously the AFC Women's Futsal Championship, is the premier national women's futsal competition of the Asian Football Confederation nations. Iran have won both editions held to date.
The Kabaddi World Cup, is an indoor international kabaddi tournament conducted by the International Kabaddi Federation. It follows the standard style and is contested by men's and women's national teams. The format involves a round-robin group stage, including 5 teams in 2 pools, with the first and second place finishers of each group progressing to the semi-finals.
Asian Kabaddi Championship is a standard style Kabaddi tournament. It was first held in 1980. The 9th tournament was held in Republic of Korea and won by India and secured its 8th medal.
2018 in Indian sports describes the year's events in Indian sport. The main highlight for this year for India is the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.
The Dubai Kabaddi Masters was a 6 nation Kabaddi Masters series which was held in the United Arab Emirates for 9 days from 22 June 2018 – 30 June 2018. This was also the inaugural edition of the tournament. This was the first international kabaddi sport event to be witnessed in the UAE. The tournament featured defending world champions India, Pakistan, Iran, Republic of Korea, Argentina and Kenya. India was regarded as the firm favourites to lift the inaugural Dubai Kabaddi Masters title. The tournament was hosted at the Al Wasl Sports Club in Dubai.
The 2019 Kabaddi World Cup was the inaugural National (Asian) style tournament held by World Kabaddi. It was originally scheduled to be contested from 2 to 15 April 2019 in Melaka, Malaysia. However, the tournament was postponed and held from July 20–28 with fewer teams participating.
The 2025 Kabaddi World Cup will be the fourth edition of the Kabaddi World Cup organised by the International Kabaddi Federation (IKF), and will be hosted in India during the month of January 2025.
The World Beach Kabaddi Championship is a international Beach kabaddi competition conducted by the International Kabaddi Federation (IKF). In 2024, the first World Beach Kabaddi Championship was held in Iran and was won by the hosts.
The following is a list of events for the year 2025 in India.