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Know how ancient Indian sport of kabaddi is gaining popularity

New Delhi:  An ancient Indian sport that looks like a mixture of tag, dodgeball and wrestling has barreled back into the Indian national consciousness to become one of the country's most popular sports, trailing only


   


"This is the Indian soul game," said Prashant Khandekar, a chef, minutes after watching the first league final in Mumbai last month. Since the league's launch, 396 million viewers have watched the live televised matches according to TAM Media Research, which monitors viewing figures nationally -- more than double the number of Indians who watched this year's soccer World Cup.
   
In the space of a month, kabaddi became India's second most-watched sport, leap-frogging field hockey to trail only the obsessively-followed Indian Premier League in cricket.
   
The 12 teams touring five cities across India attracted sell-out crowds, and 22 million tuned in to the semifinals. Versions of kabaddi have been played in India for thousands of years, mostly on dusty patches of land. The pro league has launched a version supported by lasers, glitter explosions and techno music. With players in slick uniforms and hawkers throwing out Kabaddi T-shirts, it unabashedly attempts recreate the atmosphere of games in the NBA or Major League Baseball. And it seems Indians like it.