On Sunday it was from Takhtupura in Moga,on Monday from Bhai Rupa in Bathinda. From the dusty villages of Punjab,kabaddi is making its way across the world live on the Internet. Reaching out to Punjabis who miss rural kabaddi tournaments back home is www.kabaddi365.com,a website run by a group of men from Malwa,using high-end gadgetry to beam streaming images to audiences in Canada,the UK, Australia,Hong Kong and elsewhere. We are the first to start live telecast of Punjab kabaddi tournaments over the Internet, said Pardeep Taina of Sailbrah village in Bathinda,the driving force behind the initiative. We are charging a nominal amount for the telecast,and plan to offer the service free in the near future. On Monday,his team telecast live a two-day kabaddi tournament organised by the Baba Bedi Das Tournament Committee of Dera Khoohan Wala,Bhai Rupa. The tournament is dedicated to a former kabaddi player and to a Kargil martyr of the village. The committee decided to telecast it live so that Punjabis abroad could watch it, said Bhai Rupa resident Bhola. People from this village are settled in Canada,Italy and USA. Other kabaddi lovers from Punjab too are settled abroad in good numbers. So we thought of telecasting the tournament live, said Sukhdev Singh,one of the organisers of the tournament. Punjab Kabaddi Association president Sikander Singh Malooka said kabaddi got a fillip after the Punjab government organised the Kabaddi World Cup in 2010. The World Cup in Punjab got national media attention and provided a new dimension to the popularity of the game. It also caught the attention of Punjabis settled abroad, Malooka said. The next live kabaddi telecast on kabaddi365.com is on September 24. Several clubs have shown interest in the live telecast,as many Punjabis settled abroad provide financial assistance for the tournaments.
