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The ancient Indian sport of Kabaddi found a new lease of life with the birth of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL). Being a game pioneered and dominated by India since its inception, the overwhelmingly positive reception of the League by the Indian audience has given an opportunity to the promoters to bring the league back for a second season. Appreciated and followed by millions of people around the country, the PKL was a major hit for both the game and the promoters.
For long Kabaddi was thought to be a game played in the rural areas of our country, with not much interest shown in the game by those living in cities. Not even fit to be a part of the Olympics, India had to fight hard to keep it alive in the Asian Games, right since it was introduced in 1990.
The all-conquering Indian team has won seven gold medals in the sport on the trot. After the idea to start a league based on Kabaddi was made, it caught the attention and attracted not only the Indian audience, but also film stars and corporates who enthusiastically took part in the bidding process of the teams and players.
The way PKL was received was unprecedented
Never before had a sport created so much of buzz in our country. Talking about the numbers and statistics, 22 million viewers tuned into Star Sports to watch the inauguration ceremony on July 26, 2014. Within the first few hours, there were around 140 million Tweets sent on the social media platform – Twitter. The numbers were equally astonishing on Facebook. The League took our country by a storm, something that was not thought of when PKL was still in the pipelines.
The tournament exceeded all expectations, and it gave an opportunity to the promoters and those involved in the organising committee to think of ways to make PKL even more popular. The way PKL was embraced by the Indian audience; no one ever thought the game would get as much of appreciation as it got.
Bollywood was not far behind, and stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan, brought the glam quotient in the game. Abhishek Bachchan was the owner of Jaipur Pink Panthers, and he made sure to always come and watch the matches and cheer for his team. The stars helped the game to grow, and even if the viewers didn’t know the name of the player, they would root for the team their favourite actor was supporting. Retail giants like the Future Group, who owned the Bengal Warriors, made sure that the corporate world was also a part of the beautiful amalgamation that is PKL.
The Pro Kabaddi League Season 1 was organized by the International Kabaddi Federation, Asian Kabaddi Federation, and Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India. Star Sports was the official broadcaster of the tournament, and the game was watched by around 435 million people all over the country. It was the second most watched League in the country, after the Indian Premier League (IPL).
With the PKL, kabaddi has finally got what it deserves
With the PKL being a franchise-based tournament, there were eight teams participating from different parts of the country, namely – Jaipur Pink Panthers (Jaipur), U Mumba (Mumbai), Bengaluru Bulls (Bengaluru), Patna Pirates (Patna), Telugu Titans (Vizag), Dabang Delhi (Delhi), Bengal Warriors (Kolkata) and Puneri Paltan (Pune). The players were overwhelmed with the kind of adulation and response that the league got. Anup Kumar, the skipper of U Mumba, never in his wildest dreams would have thought the league would make him a household name.
Star India CEO Uday Shankar, the brainchild behind the success of the PKL, said that they are very excited about Kabaddi and believe in the potential of the sport he called a “true-blue Indian sport”.
“We are very excited about Kabaddi, but these are early days. We believe in building content on a long term basis and our positions and moods don't swing based on day one ratings! We strongly believe in the potential of Kabaddi and that is the reason we are working so hard to build it,” said Mr. Shankar.
“Kabaddi has every ingredient, including skill, strategy and speed, to emerge as a serious sport and win a fan following. The opening week response is especially encouraging given that it is a true-blue Indian sport."
Looking at the phenomenal success of the league, one can’t help but wonder why PKL wasn’t conceptualized earlier. The happiness of the coaches and players knows no bounds, as they are proud of the fact that a game that has been dominated by India like no other, has finally found its rightful place amongst cricket and football in our country.
The fact that a game so deeply attached to the roots of India is being loved and appreciated everywhere gives us more hope for equality and homogenization of opportunities being given to other sports as well. Whatever it may be, PKL is here to stay, and Kabaddi has finally got what it deserves.
