Kabaddi is a type of contact sport. It is played between two teams of seven players each. The objective of each player on the offense is to run into opposite teams court and tag many players as possible. After this, the player has to return to his court without being tackled by the opponents and in a single breath. Points are scored by tagging the players while the opposite team score by stopping the raider.
Though kabaddi marks its territory in India’s ancient games, it became popular in the 20th century. Kabaddi is Bangladesh’s national game and the state game of the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh.
The pro kabaddi league was established in 2014. The format of the competition was inspired by the Indian Premier League. The 2019th season is the seventh edition of the competition. The top three players were Pardeep Narwal with 990 raid points, Rahul Chaudhari scored 915, and Ajay Thakur with 790 points.
Pardeep Narwal
Pardeep Narwal was born on 16th February 1997 in the Sonipat district of Haryana. Narwal was coached by Naresh Kumar in his village’s kabaddi academy. His kabaddi started with the debut in Vivo Pro Kabaddi League. He played for the Bengaluru Bull team against Patna Pirated for the second season. Currently, he plays for the Patna Pirates in VIVO Pro Kabaddi League and the Indian National Kabaddi team.
He is the first player to score 990 points in the seventh edition of Pro kabaddi league in 2019. Narwal was awarded the best raider award two times in a row in 2017 and 2018. He has scored Super 10 in 19 out of 26 matches. He has also won 3 Gold Medals out of the 4 tournaments he participated in.
Pardeep is famous amongst the fans by the names “Dubki King and Mr. Unpredictable.”
Rahul Chaudhari
Rahul Chaudhari ranks as the second popular kabaddi player in India. He made his debut into the kabaddi world as a defender but soon became a raider. Currently, Rahul plays for Tamil Thalaivas after playing for Telugu Titans for six seasons. Rahul was born to Rampal Singh in the Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh. He stepped into the kabaddi world at a very young age of 13 years in the year 2006. Rahul was awarded the best raider of Season 4 award after completing the league with 146 raid points and 11 tackle points.
Popular by the name, ‘Raid Machine’, this young player is the apple of every Indian fan’s eye. He leads the Indian team to an Asian Beach Games gold in 2014. Thereafter, he participated in the Senior Nationals Kabaddi Championships gold for his state Uttar Pradesh in the following year i.e., 2015. Rahul represented India in the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup. He won three gold medals at the 2016 South Asian Games.
Ajay Thakur
Ajay Thakur is the Indian kabaddi player who received Padma Shri and Arjuna Award in 2019. Born in Himachal Pradesh on 1st May 1986 to Chotu Ram, Ajay is one of India’s best Raider. Ajay’s inspiration was his cousin Rakesh, who represented India at the international level. Ajay represented Indian national teams which won a gold medal at the 2014 Asian Games and the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup. He was the caption of the Indian team in 2017 which won a Gold medal. Ajay’s playing style is mostly attacking.
Presently, Ajay is employed with Air India as a Customer Service Supervisor. He has also been employed in the Indian Navy before. Thakar’s achievement list starts from the year 2007 by winning a Gold medal Asian Indoor Games. And then again a Gold in 2013 at the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games Kabaddi.
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