Pakistan's players catch an Iranian opponent during their kabaddi round robin bout at the 15th Asian Games in Doha.
© AFP Khaled Desouki

DOHA (AFP) - While India are favourites to win a fourth successive Asian Games gold, the sport, which involves teams of men joining hands, holding their breath and raiding opponents, is catching on in the most unlikely places.

A contingent of US Marines, training with local troops in the Indian state of Karnataka, was fascinated by the sport.

"My troops are playing kabaddi in barracks," said a Lieutenant Lee.

But there was a hitch.

"The Americans pronounce kabbadi as 'cup of tea'," said a bemused Indian soldier.

In Toronto, policemen are playing kabaddi in an effort to improve race relations with the city's large Asian community.

It was the brainchild of a local inspector whose initiative led to a documentary, Kabaddi Cops, which celebrates the success of the four-year-old team.

Team captain Dirk Niles said he was afraid to try it out first but took kabaddi as a challenge.

"I never knew it was bare foot, bare back, no mouth guard and running around out on the field," he said.

At a young offenders' institution in northern England, the sport has also been introduced at the request of its Asian inmates.

"I think, traditionally, the raiders are meant to say 'Kabaddi, Kabaddi, Kabaddi' over and over again, but the lads weren't keen on that so we give them 15 seconds," said one warden.

"We've now got lads from different backgrounds and ethnic groups coming together and working as a team, and enjoying themselves too."

Indian Punjab Kabaddi player Mangat Singh (ground) captures his Pakistani Punjab opponent during a Kabaddi match
© AFP Arif Ali

Thailand are the rulers of sepak takraw, a 15th-century sport, which is a form of kick-volleyball, having won 10 golds at the Asian Games.

But beneath the surface of a sport, which mystifies westerners, there have been some unseemly headlines.

At the 2005 SEA Games, the Philippines lost to Myanmar but immediately filed a gender test on three of their opponents' players.

At the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, three Malaysian sepak takraw players were ordered home after testing positive for morphine.

Meanwhile, Wushu, a martial art which has inspired a host of blockbuster films, may not have the high profile of judo and kung fu, but its glowing origins will be hard to beat.

"Four thousand years ago, China's legendary Yellow Emperor Huang Ti battled a horned monster called Chlih Yu," celebrated one author.

"In honour of his victory, two thousand years later, farmers strapped cow horns on their heads and butted each other, for sport. By then, historically speaking, only one step remained to complete the classic Chinese progression from deepest dreams to the ultimate reality of wushu, "war arts."

Now it boasts terms such as Shuangdao, Shuangjian, Shuangbian and Shuanggou, which will confuse the unwary, but not one of its most famous practitioners - Hollywood action hero Jet Li.

©AFP