LIKE a retreating raider, Prem Singh is trying to catch his breath. An honorary Glaswegian who moved north from Birmingham around four decades ago, Singh is the founder member of Scottish Kabaddi and the driving force behind the inaugural season of the British Kabaddi League that has its grand finale at Glasgow’s Bellahouston Sports Centre this weekend.
Originating in India, kabaddi first piqued the British public’s curiosity back in the early 1990s when it was a Sunday morning staple on Channel 4. Two teams would line up on either side of the court, with the attacking team sending over one of their raiders to try to tag an opponent and get safely back across the midway line before they could wrestle him to the ground. To add to the complexity, the attacker had to complete his mission in a single breath, uttering the phrase “kabaddi, kabaddi” over and over to prove, like Bill Clinton, that they hadn’t inhaled. It was both dazzlingly complex but also beautifully simple at the same time, the perfect hangover viewing.
