We need to give more attention to our game of Kabaddi across the country. At the school, village, district, college and university level the game needs to be promoted with the necessary seriousness. The game has important cultural elements that can go a long way in increasing our spirit of cohesion. For us in Goa the game of Kabaddi was introduced in the early 1960s soon after Goa gained its independence from the Portuguese rule and became part of mainland India. School teachers from neighbouring talukas and districts of Maharashtra and Karnataka were instrumental in introducing to us the intricacies of the game and we enjoyed playing Kabaddi and visiting other schools and different villages and towns of Goa to test our skills against those of others. As raiders and catchers we celebrated life on the field talking of our exploits for long. We need to diversify our interests for a variety of sports and promote our ancient Indian games that have rich potential for nation building exercise from the grass root level. In course of time Kabaddi will certainly catch the attention of sports lovers in other countries across the various continents. Cheers to our world class Kabaddi players!
