It’s no surprise that some of the world’s greatest athletes have come from India. There are several unique traditional Indian sports that continue to be popular in India.

Take for example the game of Kabaddi (कबड्डी), which is a game where two teams occupy opposite sides of a field. The object of the game is to send a “raider” to the other team to try to tag or wrestle the members of the other team. Before the “raider” returns to his/her own team, he/she must not take in a single breath, or he/she will be sent off the field. The members of the raider’s team must form a chain by linking hands. If the chain is broken, a member of the raider’s team must be sent off the field.

The name Gilli Danda (गिल्ली डण्डा) comes from the word gilli, which is a ball that is swung by the danda, or bat. Gilli Danda is an amateur sport with no official rules. You can have as many players as you want, and the scoring differs depending on the region in which it is played. To play the game, a hole smaller than the gilli is dug in the ground. The danda is used to strike the gilli and the ball flies upward. The player will then attempt to strike the ball outward.

Pehlwani (पहलवानी) is a sport that involves a form of wrestling that goes back to B.C. times. To win a round, the wrestler must make wrestle his opponent to submission. This may include knocking out the opponent through various throwing techniques. If the round is close, a panel of judges may decide on the winner of the round. Practitioners of Pehlwani are very disciplined athletes. They train by weightlifting iron bars, climbing ropes, pushing logs and doing daily long distance runs.

Some people mistake Kho Kho (खो-खो) and Kabaddi as being the same sport. However Kho Kho is very different from Kabaddi. In the sport of Kho Kho, one team sits or kneels in the middle of a rectangular court. The other team will send two or three members up to the middle of the court. The sitting team will then try to tag the members of the other team. The team that tags all the members of the other team in the shortest amount of time is the winner.