With the emergence of league-based events, Indian players have by and large benefitted in every sporting discipline but the same can't be said about kabaddi as other nations have started to raid India's traditional stronghold with the arrival of Pro Kabaddi League (PKL).
India have always been the undisputed leader in kabaddi in every quadrennial or international events, but after getting exposure in the PKL, countries like Iran, South Korea, Turkey have started to catch up fast, feel Indian players.
"Players from Iran, Korea, who are part of our teams in Pro Kabaddi League, practice with us. They see and learn how we strategise and plan. They then apply it when represent their respective countries at the international tournaments. So, naturally the competition has increased," said Patna Pirates captain Manpreet Singh on the eve of their season-3 PKL semifinal against Puneri Paltan.
U Mumba skipper Anup Kumar added: "Earlier, we used to win any competition easily without facing much threat from the oppositions. But in the last two years, things have changed. Now we have to fight hard for the victory."
U Mumbai will be facing Bengal Warriors in another semifinal of the PKL here tomorrow.
Manpreet also said that some of the countries now-a-days are even hiring coaches from India to improve their game.
"A few countries requested the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India to give them coaches and the federation have sent a some of our coaches to those countries to train them. Hence, they are getting better and better, and gap between us and them are getting reduced by the day. In times to come, we will face tougher competition," said Manpreet.
The last Asian Games saw champions India fighting hard to defend their title against Iran. Ultimately, India managed to prevail over Iran only in the dying minutes of the final match. Earlier, it used to be a cakewalk for the Indian kabaddi players.
However, Pune captain Ajay Thakur feels that no matter what the other nations are doing, Indians would always be a step ahead of their opponents.
"We have been training for years now. We have some of the best coaches with us. We have camps regularly. We also have a huge bench strength with thousands playing the game of kabaddi. So we will always have huge talent pool to chose from and thus will have an advantage.
"It would take a lot of time for the others to catch up with us. We would always be a step ahead," said Thakur.
