Kabaddi not Indian sport alone — Iran

Kabaddi fans gasped when seven-time men’s champions India — whose country is widely seen as the sport’s birthplace — lost their first ever match at the Asian Games.

But India’s unlikely vanquishers, South Korea, are not the only country with growing ambitions in the tag-meets-rugby contact sport, reputedly rooted in ancient Hindu mythology.

Iran’s women’s coach doesn’t just want to wrestle the title from the defending champions. She wants to reclaim the sport itself, which she says in fact originated in her country.

“It is a big mistake! Kabaddi is not an Indian word, it is an Iranian word,” says Zahra Rahiminejad. “Kabaddi is part of the culture of Iran.”

“In my country, the game has been played for nearly 2,000 years. All of the people in Iran know it — mothers, grandmothers, children,” she adds.

Rahiminejad had just watched her team underline their title ambitions by hammering South Korea 46-20.

Teams collect points by sending a raider into enemy territory to tag an opponent before returning to safety. Traditionally, raiders chant “kabaddi, kabaddi” to prove they’re only using one breath.

Defending teams can also collect points by preventing the raider from escaping their half of the court, often with body-slamming tackles and vicious ankle-wrenches.

Iran’s ladies take a particularly no-holds-barred approach, tagging opponents with high kicks and celebrating each victory with a guttural group roar.