# Kabaddi-Sikh wrestling tounament *photos and video



## Hooligan Dan (Oct 3, 2011)

Been a long time since I've posted. Also been a long time since I've shot anything interesting.

Yesterday I had the chance to cover a sporting even at the local Sikh temple. It's called Kabaddi. It's kind of a mix of red rover, tag, and wrestling. It was intense. 

Let's see if I can explain this without thoroughly confusing everyone.  Two teams face off in a large dirt ring with a line down the center. On  the center line, in the middle, are two small mounds of dirt about 10  feet apart. At any given time there are five members of each team on  each half of the ring. One person on each team is the "Raider." The  other four stand together holding each others arms. 

The raider from team A approaches the four members of team B on B's half  of the ring. The raider then has 30 seconds to make contact with one of  the four opponents. If he contacts one he then as 30 seconds to return  to his half of the ring through the mounds of dirt while the opponent he  contacted tries to stop him. If he makes it back team A gets the point.  If he is stopped team B gets the point. Then the whole processes is  repeated, switching roles between the two teams.

That's the simple version of it. There are a lot more complexities to it though. It was unlike anything I've ever watched before. 

Dirt clouding the air and my eyes. The crowd of 3000 cheering as the  voice of the announcer calling the fight in Punjabi rang out. Athletes  slamming each other to the ground. It was a sensory overload.

I'm not going to bog down the thread with a ton of photos, so for the bulk go here: Ambient Focus: Kabaddi-It's like a childrens game but way more violent

Hope you guys enjoy the photos and video.


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## SnapLocally (Oct 5, 2011)

Confusing rules, but the action looks pretty bad-ass. Nice work.


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## dramachicky12 (Oct 6, 2011)

Is this greco or free style?


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## Hooligan Dan (Oct 6, 2011)

Not really either. The sport is more about contacting someone on the other team and running back to your own side of the ring. The wrestling aspect is only a tactic to prevent a player from returning to their own side.


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