City’s kabaddi teams miss out on Junior KBD

The city is gripped with the fever of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) that is taking place at the National Sports Club of India for the Mumbai leg. The fans of U Mumba are attending the games in numbers to support their favourite raiders and attackers. With this response the organisers took an initiative of Junior Pro Kabaddi League which featured local schools with a few of them being Jamnabai Narsee School, Aditya Birla World Academy, St Peters and five other schools which are known as the schools for top class infrastructure but are not that prominently seen in kabaddi. President of Mumbai School Sports Association (MSSA) Father Jude Rodrigues was not very appreciative of this news. “At least they should have had the courtesy to inform us,” he exclaims.

Traditionally, kabaddi was meant to be a sport played in rural and sub-urban parts of India until very recently when Pro Kabaddi came into existence. The sport of muddy fields and players chanting “Kabaddi Kabaddi” all through the game transformed from conventional rings to synthetic complexes from 2014. It was the entry of PKL that changed the game and further Star Sports expanded the sport for the youth as Junior KBD.

The raiders are considered as bulls that fight against the defenders. The essence of the game is the holding of the raiders by the defenders. Though variations emerged and rules were framed, the game’s principal objective remained unchanged despite the commercialisation.

A player from Gandhi Vidya Mandir, Bandra said, “Our team has been performing well in kabaddi since so many years in MSSA tournaments and still we cannot make it to Junior KBD. We are disappointed after knowing this.”

With kabaddi junior coming to Mumbai, the schools taking part were registered through invitation as told by Star Sports. “Coming to Mumbai for the first time, we were not sure about the participation. We missed out on many schools because the time was less. Our plan is to expand and leaving out top schools is not our intention. In the coming editions, our team will look forward to accommodate other schools as well. Also, when PKL started, there were just eight teams initially, and now we have 12 teams covering the major regions from the country,” said a spokesperson from Star Sports.  “Showing the kids that it is an easy game and make them meet the stars is our plan,” he adds.

On the contrary, Fr Jude argues that half of the teams playing at KBD Juniors do not even compete at the MSSA inter-school competitions. “It just came to my knowledge that such a competition is taking place. The teams are not competing at MSSA but getting such a big stage. The teams that play full seasons deserve this chance to showcase their talent. I am disappointed with this. I don't think these students can complete with our winners for even one half.”

The explanation that Star TV had was that it was time that was challenging to select the teams. The media channel collaborated with U Mumba for this leg of Junior KBD. “Expanding the sport is our primary aim. In the next seasons we will make sure that we incorporate other teams as well. Now that we are aware of this situation, we will take measures,” said the spokesperson.