Four thousand years of Zu

Though, it is possible that the name of Kabaddi is not familiar to us, this sport is a combination of wrestles and rugby known as "Zu" in all provinces of Iran and is an active and simple game without any equipment. Kabaddi with four thousand years background is one of the most popular South Asian sports turned into an international sport due to changeing the rules over time.

Iranian originality

This folk sport originally is an Iranian game which is known as various names in different regions such as "Shirin Dod" in Gilan, "Zu" in Khorasan, Golestan and Mazandaran, "Kabaddi" in Sistan & Baluchestan. The Kabaddi field is round, square or rectangle clay, sandy and turf space divided into two equal parts by a line. The players are divided into two groups and the defenders and strikers determined by lottery and one of the striker team players who is chosen by the team leader invades to the opposing field by continuously saying the word Zu or Kabaddi and tries to touch one or more members of the defender’s team and takes them out of the game; it makes possible for him to bring his teammate into the game. If the players of defender team can keep the striker in their field during his invade so that he is not able to continue saying the word, and he cannot return back to the middle line of the field, the striker should go out of the game and he will come back again in the next turn. Skill, flexibility, agility, strength, immediacy and daring are necessary to catch the striker’s player or escape from the opponent in this game.

If the striker caught by defenders, then he manage to escape and return back to the middle line of the field based on his ability to continuously saying the conventional word and finally touch the line, all the defenders who touched him in their field should leave the game. All of the items checked by the referee and this process are repeated by the opponent. The game finishes when one team loss all the members and if the number of members in a team is more than the other, the losing team should leave the field and replaced by another team. Kabbadi  sport  and  matches is usually  played  in  three  different  shapes  and  forms  such   as Sanchuani, Jamini, Amar and currently it is playing in three fields of the Standard (Indoor), Serkel (circle) and beach by men and women all of them play according to the rules of the Kabaddi amateur federation. Kabbadi is played by two teams each including  12 players (7 main players in the field and 5 bench players) two halves each lasted 20 minute by men and two 15-minute halves by women with 5 minutes break between the halves. The strikers of both teams try to achieve the highest score based on the defined rules and standards of invading, defending, replacing and saying the word of Kabaddi. In case of teams' equality after the regular time, each team given five extra invades and if they event score again invades should continue one by one in so far as winning a team.