In the big league: Women's Kabaddi Challenge breaks viewership records

“We used to play kabaddi in our PT period because it needed no heavy resources. It was a good workout for the girls, and didn’t need much investment in terms of money or a sports kit also!” – Mamta Sharma, a 45 year old who reminisces about her school days.

Kabaddi has been a popular sport amongst Indians for a very long time now, but it was the Women’s Kabaddi Challenge that has suddenly brought it into the news since the viewership has broken even the Euro Cup 2016 records! 38 million viewers tuned into the  first two matches of the Women's Kabaddi Challenge (WKC) , as per the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) data, reported by Brand Equity. At the same time the 23.8 million people tuned into the first 45 matches of the European Championship. Star India, confirms what the WKC ladies achieved is a record breaking moment for women’s sports in India, as reported by desiblitz.com. Their CEO of sports, Nitin Kukreja, says, “This is the watershed moment in the history of women’s sport viewership that we were waiting for.”

"I used to play Kabaddi and Kho kho in school. Never in my dream did I think Kabaddi would make it to national tv. But that's so cool that it has. We need to celebrate sport very native to ourselves," says Shaili Chopra, Founder, SheThePeople.TV

Also read: Women Kabaddi team’s pro-league debut: Some facts about them

We indeed need to! Especially in a country like India where people from the rural areas cannot invest a lot of money in training in other sports like Tennis or Football or the likes, Kabaddi is something they can very willingly be a part of.

For women, it is even a great way to learn self-defense and especially in times like these where all of us need be at our feet and alert.

Also read: Kolkata girl beats up potential rapist, women we need to learn how to do the same!

The need to empower women has grown in today’s era and sports is helping them do just.  A lot of women come from small villages and being a part of a national game is something of a privilege. With times even the thinking of people has evolved and many families allow women to pursue a career in sports, which was deemed to be non-prestigious initially. Players like Mamatha Poojary, who represents India in International tournaments and  is famously known as Kabaddi queen of India, is changing mind-sets of people and giving hope to many other girls who dream of pursuing a career in sports.

All we would say is Go team Kabaddi!

Feature Image Credit: 3bpblogspot.com