Author(s): Mukhtar Ahmad Itoo and Dr. Ramneek Jain

Abstract:
According to reports of Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) that there was every possibility of kabaddi being included in the 2020 Olympic Games as the norm of at least 50 countries playing the game would be achieved by that time. In this report it was mentioned that 32 countries are playing in a professional manner. The game has changed dramatically over the years and the surface has become soft mat instead of traditional clay which is still used in India. Players of national repute have voiced on this sensitive topic. They believe that hosting and organising an International tournament is good for popularising the sport but it is also mandatory to keep track on changing rules and environment. It is a well-known fact that European and American or for that instance South American population is more agile and physically stronger than us. This agility and physical supremacy is somewhat nullified when they used to play Kabaddi on clay. But with changing scenario, Kabaddi is being played on soft mat surface. Apart from this, the European countries can spend substantial amount on infrastructure development and coaching. So it will be only matter of time that these European countries will pick the skills of this game and India will lag behind in international kabaddi scene as happened in other sports in which changes in surface has affected performance of Indian sportspersons. In view of the above the research decided to assess the effect of clay and mat surface on coordinative and skill ability of the kabaddi players of India.

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