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.
Tag is a playground game involving one or more players chasing other players in an attempt to "tag" and mark them out of play, typically by touching with a hand. There are many variations; most forms have no teams, scores, or equipment. Usually when a person is tagged, the tagger says, "It!" or "Tag, you're 'It'!" The last one tagged during tag is "It" for the next round. The game is known by other names in various parts of the world, including "running and catching" in India and "catch and cook" in the Middle East.
A street game or street sport is a sport or game that is played on city streets rather than a prepared field. Street games are usually simply play time activities for children in the most convenient venue. Some street games have risen to the level of organized tournaments, such as stickball.
Kho kho is a traditional South Asian sport that dates to ancient India. It is the second-most popular traditional tag game in the Indian subcontinent after kabaddi. Kho kho is played on a rectangular court with a central lane connecting two poles which are at either end of the court. During the game, nine players from the chasing team are on the field, with eight of them sitting (crouched) in the central lane, while three runners from the defending team run around the court and try to avoid being touched. Each sitting player on the chasing team faces the opposite half of the field that their adjacent teammates are facing.
India has a history of sports dating back to the Vedic period, with Western sports having been imported during British rule. Cricket is the most popular spectator sport; it generates the highest television viewership, with the Indian Premier League (IPL) being the most-followed league in the country. Football has also gained popularity, with the Indian Super League (ISL) being the highest level of domestic football, and the national team winning multiple gold medals at the Asian and South Asian Games. Additional football accomplishments include India having reached the Groupstage of the 1960 Olympics, qualified for the 1950 FIFA World Cup, and won the SAFF Championship. Other sports include kabaddi, badminton, tennis, and athletics, with kho-kho becoming the fourth-most viewed sport. India has also had success in field hockey, winning the World Cup and multiple medals in the Olympic Games. Sports such as golf, rugby, boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, motorsport, wrestling, and basketball are featured throughout the country.
Seven stones is a traditional game from the Indian subcontinent involving a ball and a pile of flat stones, generally played between two teams in a large outdoor area.
Traditional games of Andhra Pradesh, like many other traditional games played in India, involve games which are played mostly by children. These games may also be enjoyed by other people of any age, as it reminds them of their childhood. Despite the advent of computers and technology, with children preferring to spend their times indoors, these games are still very popular in the Andhra Pradesh. They are also played in great and small towns all over India and Pakistan, especially in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, as well as Cambodia and Italy..
Kabaddi, is a contact sport, native to the Indian subcontinent. It is one of the most popular sports in India, played mainly among people in villages. India has taken part in four Asian Games in kabaddi, and won gold in all of them. Four forms of kabaddi played in India are Amar, Suranjeevi, huttuttoo, and Gaminee. Amar is generally played in Punjab, Haryana, the United States, Canada, and other parts of the world, mostly by Punjabi sportsmen. Suranjeevi is the most played form of kabaddi in India and the world. This is the form used in international matches generally and played in Asian Games. Huttuttoo was played by men in Maharashtra. In Gaminee style, seven players play on each side and a player put out has to remain out until all his team members are out. The team that is successful in outing all the players of the opponent's side secures a point. The game continues until five or seven such points are secured and has no fixed time duration.
Many sports are originated from Tamil Nadu played people from Tamil Nadu including both traditional sports and sports from other countries. Also Tamil Nadu is emerging as the Sports Capital State of Indian Subcontinent.
Shankarrao Salvi was an Indian Kabaddi player, coach and administrator. He was life president of Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India.
Atya patya is a traditional South Asian tag sport played by two sides of nine players. It is more popular in rural areas of India. It is more commonly played in Maharashtra, a western Indian state. Atya patya is described as a "game of feints". The playing area comprises nine trenches, coming out of either side of a central trench; a point is awarded to the attacking team's players for each trench they cross without being tagged out by the defensive players within the trenches. The game ends after 4 innings of 7 minutes each, with each team having two innings to score. It has been described as a game of "militant chase". The sport is played in a relatively small area and requires no equipment, similar to other games indigenous to India such as kabaddi, seven stones, kho kho, gillidanda and langdi.
Sports play an integral part of culture in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Cricket is the most popular spectator sport in the state. Other popular sports include kabaddi and kho kho, which are played in rural areas, and field hockey, badminton, and table tennis, which are more common in urban areas, schools, and colleges. In the state's southern rural regions, annual wrestling championships such as Hind Kesari and Maharashtra Kesari are held. Games like Viti-Dandu and variations of Tag are played among children.
Bengali traditional games are traditional games that are played in rural parts of the historical region of Bengal. These games are typically played outside with limited resources. Many games have similarities to other traditional South Asian games.
World Chase Tag is an international championship for competitive parkour involving the game of tag. Events have been televised on NBCSN in the United States, and on Channel 4, ITV and BBC Three in the United Kingdom. Events have also attracted millions of views online.
Sarika Kale is an Indian kho kho player from Maharashtra. She became the captain of the Maharashtra women's state kho kho team in 2010, leading the team to three national championships. Selected for the India women's national kho kho team in 2015, she was named captain of the team before the 2016 South Asian Games. She led the team to victory in the South Asian Games and in the Third Asian Kho-Kho Championship, where she received the match winner award in the final against Bangladesh.
India has several traditional games and sports, some of which have been played for thousands of years. Their popularity has greatly declined in the modern era, with Western sports having overtaken them during the British Raj, and the Indian government now making some efforts to revive them. Many of these games do not require much equipment or playing space. Some of them are only played in certain regions of India, or may be known by different names and played under different rules and regulations in different regions of the country. Many Indian games are also similar to other traditional South Asian games.
Ultimate Kho Kho (UKK) is an Indian franchise-based kho-kho league started in 2022. It is hosted by the Kho Kho Federation of India. The inaugural season had a viewership of 64 million, 41 million of which came from India, making UKK the third-most viewed non-cricket sport tournament in India after the Pro Kabaddi League and the Indian Super League.
Pakistan has many traditional games played in the rural and urban areas of the country.
South Asia has many traditional games and sports. Two of them, kabaddi and kho-kho, are played at the South Asian Games, with kabaddi also featuring at the Asian Games. Many of these games are played across the entire subcontinent under different names and with some rule variations, while some of these games may be played only in certain countries or regions.
Galah panjang is a traditional Malaysian tag game which is played on a long, narrow field. The attacking team's goal is to cross the field and then return to the starting line to win, while the defending team's players attempt to tag the attackers to eliminate them.
