Pushkar Singh Dhami in action After inaugurating 48th Junior National Kabaddi Championship.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Thursday inaugurated the 48 Boys Junior National Kabaddi Championship 2022 in Haridwar and even played the sport briefly. A video showing Mr Dhami challenging some players in the kabaddi arena has been posted on Twitter by news agency ANI. The four-day event will see participation from team across the country. In a release, Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI), which has organised the event, said that the championship will be held from November 17 to 20.
The 45-second video shows Mr Dhami, dressed in traditional Indian attire, moving towards his opponents as a raider in an aggressive manner but soon breaking into laughter. He even imitates running hand-touch running from one corner to another with hands extended.
Watch the video:
The people gathered at the event even clapped for the Chief Minister.
The AKFI said that 48th Junior National Kabaddi Championship Boys is being held at Pantdeep Ground in Haridwar.
Kabaddi is a combative sport, with seven players on each side. It is played for a period of 40 minutes (two 20-minute rounds) with a 5 minutes break, said the AKFI website. The core idea of the game is to score points by raiding into the opponent's court and touching as many defence players as possible without getting caught on a single breath.
The players on the defensive side are called "Antis" while the player of the offence is called the "Raider". The attack in Kabaddi is known as a Raid. The antis touched by the raider during the attack are declared 'out' if they do not succeed in catching the raider before he returns to home court.
The modern kabaddi game is being played all over India and some parts of South Asia since 1930, AKFI further said.