Hold your breath for Pro Kabaddi

The Pro league will be played on red or pink mats to make it more appealing for the high-quality TV broadcast.

Some of India’s top corporates have responded enthusiastically to a call to invest in kabaddi, India’s biggest indigenous sport. The result is a eight-city professional league with a prize purse of Rs 1 crore, and plenty of optimism about the venture taking off inspite of kabaddi being a distinctly desi sport.

Managing Director of Pro Kabaddi’s organising group Mashal Sports, Charu Sharma, believes that the fact that it is uniquely an Indian sport was one of main themes that were pitched to the corporates. “Americans take pride in American football, their own creation. Australians thrive on Footie (Australian Rules Football) even though no other country plays it. They both respect their traditional sport and celebrate it. Why shouldn’t we?” says Sharma.

The Mumbai franchise has been purchased by founder and former CEO of UTV Group Ronnie Screwvala. “Next to where I grew up at Grant Road was a small ground. Nobody played cricket or football there. It was all kabaddi. And everyone enjoyed it,” the former studio head says, explaining his enthusiasm for the sport into which he is heavily investing after moving out of the entertainment sphere.

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At the introductory ceremony for Pro Kabaddi at the National Sports Club of India, Mumbai, Anand Mahindra, the corporate honcho who is the force behind Pro Kabaddi roping in other corporates, says the project is very close to his heart.

After making it clear that his involvement in the venture is based on a personal capacity, Mahindra admits that the thought of promoting an indigenous sport was one that appealed to him. “The sport needed a revival. As a principle of the brand that I have represented for all these years, we look to support the underdog and bring forth a rise,” he says.

Other owners include Rajesh Shah (Co-Chairman of Mukund Group in steels) who bought the Kolkata franchise, and CEO of Future Group Kishore Biyani, who is deciding between purchasing the Patna and Delhi teams. GMR Group and Murugappa Group are others looking to invest in a franchise.

A hundred players will compete, 72 being Indian while the rest being foreign, coming from Japan, Afghanistan, Canada, South Korea, Italy, Turkmenistan, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, England and the United States among others.

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The Pro league will be played on red or pink mats to make it more appealing for the high-quality TV broadcast. “The sport has always attracted massive crowds even in cities like at Shivaji Park in Mumbai and all across Punjab and Haryana and south in TN. This sport has the potential to surprise India,” said a franchise official.