The Indian National Kabaddi Team represents

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in international men's

kabaddi Kabaddi is a contact team sport. Played between two teams of seven players, the objective of the game is for a single player on offence, referred to as a "raider", to run into the opposing team's half of the court, touch out as many of their ...

competitions. The team is by far the most successful national kabaddi side of any country, winning gold medals at the Asian Games in 1990 (the first year the sport was contested), 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014, as well as winning all three Kabaddi World Cup events to date.

Maninder Singh (kabaddi) Maninder Singh is an Indian professional Kabaddi player who plays for the India national kabaddi Team.He is the captain and lead raider of Bengal Warriors In the Pro Kabaddi League.Maninder is regarded as one of the best raiders in the league. ...

is the current captain of the team (declared so in 2022) after

Deepak Niwas Hooda Deepak Ram Niwas Hooda (born 10 June 1994) is an Indian professional Kabaddi player and the captain of India national kabaddi team.He was part of the Indian team which won gold medal at the 2016 South Asian Games. He has also featured in all t ...

(former captain) was suffering from bad form in PKL 9.

History

1990s

Kabaddi was contested at the Asian Games as a competitive (non-exhibition) sport for the first time in 1990. India beat Bangladesh in the gold medal match for both the

1990 Asian Games ) , Nations participating = 36 , Athletes participating = 6,122 , Events = 308 in 27 sports , Opening ceremony = 22 September 1990 , Closing ceremony = 7 October 1990 , Officially opened by = Yang Shangkun , O ...

and

1994 Asian Games The 1994 Asian Games ( ja, 1994年アジア競技大会, ''Senkyūhyakukyūjūyon-nen Ajia kyōgi taikai''), also known as the XII Asiad and the 12th Asian Games ( ja, 第12回アジア競技大会, Daijūni-kai Ajia kyōgi taikai), were held from ...

. India lost to

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

in the

1993 South Asian Games The 1993 South Asian Games, officially the 6th South Asian Games, took place from December 20 to December 27, 1993, in Dhaka, Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is ...

gold medal match. In the

1998 Asian Games The 1998 Asian Games (), officially known as the 13th Asian Games and the XIII Asiad, was an Asian multi-sport event celebrated in Bangkok, Thailand from December 6 to 20, 1998, with 377 events in 36 sports and disciplines participated by 6,554 ...

held in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

, the team beat arch rivals Pakistan for the gold medal.

2000s

India beat Bangladesh in the gold medal match of the 2002 Asian Games, held in

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, ...

. India won the inaugural Kabaddi World Cup in 2004, beating Iran by a 55–27 margin. They repeated the feat three years later, beating the Iranians 29–19. At the

2006 Asian Games 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

, India beat Pakistan 35–23 to win their fifth gold medal at the tournament.

2010s

In the 2010 and 2014 Asian Games, India continued to dominate, winning gold on both occasions. When the Kabaddi World Cup resumed again in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

after a nine-year hiatus, India beat Iran for the third final in a row by 38–29. In 2017, India won the

Asian Kabaddi Championship Asian Kabaddi Championship is a standard style Kabaddi tournament. It was first held in 1980. The 10th tournament was held in Iran and won by India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List ...

led by raider

Ajay Thakur Ajay Thakur (born 1 May 1987) is an Indian professional Kabaddi player and the former captain of the Indian National Kabaddi Team. He was part of the national teams which won 2016 Kabaddi World Cup and gold medal at 2014 Asian Games. He was a ...

by defeating Pakistan in the final by 36–22. India won the

2018 Dubai Kabaddi Masters The 2018 Dubai Kabaddi Masters was a 6 nation Kabaddi Masters series which was held in the United Arab Emirates for 9 days from 22 June 2018 – 30 June 2018. This was also the inaugural edition of the tournament. This was the first international ...

tournament, beating Iran 44–26 in the final. At the

2018 Asian Games The 2018 Asian Games ( id, Pesta Olahraga Asia 2018 or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, was a continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 Augus ...

, India lost to

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

23–24 in the group stages – this was the Indian team's first ever loss in their history at the Asian Games. Despite the loss, India qualified for the semi-finals, but lost 27–18 to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, who went on to win the gold. India won the gold at the

2019 South Asian Games The 2019 South Asian Games, officially the XIII South Asian Games, was a major multi-sport event which was originally slated to be held from 9 to 18 March 2019 in Kathmandu and Pokhara, Nepal. However, the dates were postponed and the event was ...

led by

, beating Sri Lanka in the final by 51–18 with raider Naveen Kumar Goyat bagging a Super 10.

2020s

The Indian team have not played in any tournaments since December 2019 due to the

Covid-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

Coaching staff

Results and fixtures

Competitive record

Asian Games

World Cup

Asian Kabaddi Championship

Circle World Cup

Circle Asian Cup

Asian Beach Games

Asian Indoor Games

South Asian Games

Dubai Kabaddi Masters

Captains

Current squad

Players

Raju Bhavsar Raju Bhavsar is a former Indian kabaddi player. He has played for national kabaddi team and represented in international tournaments for almost eight years. Career He played for Mumbai Maharashtra. His playing style was all rounder. He was t ...

* Randhir Singh Sehrawat * Ram Mehar Singh * Balwan Singh * Ramesh Kumar * Rakesh Kumar * Anup Kumar * Navneet Gautam * Jasvir Singh *

Rahul Chaudhari Rahul Chaudhari is an Indian international Kabaddi player, who has played as a defender and later became a magnificent raider. He was the first player ever to score 500, 700 and 800 raid points in Pro Kabaddi League. He was a member of the I ...

* Manjeet Chillar * Mohit Chillar

References

External links

* {{National sports teams of India

Kabaddi Kabaddi is a contact team sport. Played between two teams of seven players, the objective of the game is for a single player on offence, referred to as a "raider", to run into the opposing team's half of the court, touch out as many of their ...

National kabaddi teams National kabaddi team