Kabaddi appears to be threatened by the intrinsic nature of competitive sport
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/pro-kabaddi-league/Kabaddi-appears-to-be-threatened-by-the-intrinsic-nature-of-competitive-sport/articleshow/48638509.cmsMUMBAI: Like in love and in war, all's often been fair in sport. While much's been talked about not crossing the proverbial line to uphold the spirit of the game, sportsmen and women have set examples galore in blurring limits when it came to competitions.
Kabaddi, the age-old Indian sport redesigned for primetime television, came as fresh breath of air when players from across the length and breadth of the country came riding on an air of innocence, clueless of how the competitive nature of international sport functioned. To them, back where they came from, being ridiculed for dishonesty was far more fearful than the prospect of losing. To this day, even as kabaddi has gone through a makeover, a raider touching the ground and swearing by it to claim a touch and getting his way without protest signals the aura of honesty that defines the sport. Players from villages and towns continue to fear the tag of dishonesty by wrongly claiming a point.
Peter Giesel, a journalist from Munich here to cover the Star Sports Pro-Kabaddi League (PKL) playoffs, was surprised to see the kind of honesty and discipline in sport. "I just saw couple of games and I am amazed to see there was not a single foul despite it being a full physical contact sport. A raider claims that he has touched an opponent and the concerned guy accepts and leaves the arena. Something like this is unimaginable in Munich or world sports today," said the man representing Sky Sports.
The kind of commercial success PKL has brought to the sport now poses a potential danger to this very essence of kabaddi - an identity riding on player-honesty. Those who have been playing the game for a while and even those who've followed it closely for years are not ruling out such a possibility.
"As stakes are getting high, there have been instances of foul play," says one leading player. "In many cases, defenders often accept the raider's claim when he says there's been a feather touch. However, we have found instances when such claims have been turned down in crucial stages of a game," he claimed.
Normally a referee gets close to the action and is in the best position to assess any wrongdoing during a match. However, in PKL, the close camera movement has restricted the movements of referees and very often they are far away from the scene of action. In fact, as another player puts it, referees have been just left with the job of signaling points.
"There are always a few bad apples," feels Indian coach E Bhaskaran. "But I still believe matches in PKL are being played with honesty because that is the very nature of this sport. Then there are options for video referrals. And many a times, facial expressions of a player gives away if he is making a wrong claim," he adds.
But another player, on condition of anonymity, says players have started displaying fake reactions. "In close calls, when the referee tries to guess the intensity of an appeal and reactions of players, the players too change their claim by guessing the referees' mind. In fact few players are making use of the intrinsic nature of this sport - honesty, that is - to their advantage," he says.
E Prasad Rao, PKS's technical chief, says organisers are aware of the possibility of foul play. "That is why they are thinking of getting a chips embedded in player apparels which will beep or glow when there is a contact established between players, just the way it happens in fencing," informs the Dronacharya awardee.
Bigg Boss 19
Ganesh Kartikeya
