Kabaddi takes centre stage right here in Oldham

Local community multi-sports group, Outta Skool, brought teams from up and down the country to contest the first ever national Kabaddi tournament in Oldham.

The teams competing at the OBA Millennium Centre included West Ham Irons, Luton Bengal Tigers, Nottingham Royals, Birmingham Bulls, Bajrang Leicester and the Manchester Raiders.

The free family event brought the country together, putting Oldham in a good light as great hosts with a great audience from all over Greater Manchester and around the country who came to support their teams.

Kabaddi is an ancient full contact sport which originated in India and is the national sport of Bangladesh.

Kabaddi has been played in various forms in the India for thousands of years.

The recent founding of a professional league triggered an explosion in the sport’s popularity both in and out of the country.

However, kabaddi wasn’t always as standardized as its modern version looks today.

From a broad range of rural leisure games with differing rules to its contemporary, organized, and extra-competitive avatar, kabaddi has come a long way.

Kabaddi’s roots are considered to go back to pre-historic India.

It features in Hindu mythology with references to Arjuna playing the game in the Mahabharata.

Other ancient writings hint at Krishna having played the game.

Kabaddi is a cultural celebration in the south-east of Asia where it brings thousands of people together regardless of race, cast or religion.

Moinul Islam MBE, founder of Outta Skool, said: “We have been promoting non-mainstream sports since 2005.

"We did a project called “Lost Village Games” which was funded by the Heritage Lottery fund to revive and conserve games played in the villages of south-east Asia and kabaddi emerged as the most popular sport after cricket and football.

"I even went to the extent of developing and delivering it as a GCSE PE sports syllabus for 10 years.

"Over the last few years, we have been working hard behind the scene with other likeminded individuals up and down the country to take the sport further and have now delivered two seasons of the British Kabaddi League live on BBC Sport and BBC iPlayer.

"Going back to the event, it was great to see people of all ages at the event.

"Speaking to some of the elderly members of the community who came to watch, they told me how they grew up playing kabaddi in the villages and this is bringing back a lot of memories.

"We are hoping to make the Northern Kabaddi Championship an annual event.

"This event was made possible thanks to our sponsors Savasaachi, a marketing Agency, iBreath and ATS Accountants.

"It is thanks to sponsors like them that we can bring free events to the community.

"We also want to thank our delivery partner England Kabaddi Association which is the National Governing Body of Kabaddi.

"Finally a huge thank you to all our volunteers.”

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