Indo International Premier Kabaddi League adds a new leaf to India’s Kabaddi chapter

Kabaddi is the second most viewed sport amongst the Indian viewers, only second to none other than Cricket, also considered to be a ‘religion’ in our country. 

Kabaddi is a sport whose popularity has only grown since it made its debut in a professional league format. Since 2015, Kabaddi’s viewership has increased from 310 million viewers to 621 million viewers in 2018. It’s unjust to say that the demand of the sport can only be catered by one IP in India. There was a huge gap of 9 to 10 months in the calendar year and hence the birth of Indo International Premier Kabaddi League (IPKL) under the aegis of New Kabaddi Federation (NKF) with DSPORT as the official broadcast partner. 

Having already received the support of former Indian opener Virender Sehwag, IPKL is the newest addition to the sports leagues in India. The league also boasts of a host of known faces from the field of Kabaddi like Honappa Gowda – Former India Captain and Arjuna Awardee, and S Rajarathinam - Asian Games Gold Medalist and Arjuna Awardee joining the NKF to add strength to the league. 

Virender Sehwag has said that Kabaddi is one of India’s crown jewels and the organisers of IPKL have the right vision and intentions to discover the best talent from each corner of the country and give them a platform to showcase their skills. 

A nationwide hunt for budding Kabaddi talent was conducted as 16 cities who played host to a fair and transparent selection process, which received over 4,000 registrations. The league which is scheduled to start from May 13 till June 4 will be following a caravan system and will feature 160 players and a total of 44 matches abiding by the Asian Games scoring format. The league will begin its journey on May 13 at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune, followed by Mysore from May 24–29 at the Chamundi Vihar Stadium and the last leg of the league will take place at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru from June 1 to June 4.  

The league is going to feature eight teams who will battle it out for the first-ever IPKL title. Bangalore Rhinos, Chennai Challengers, Diler Delhi, Telugu Bulls, Pune Pride, Haryana Heroes, Mumbai Che Raje and Pondicherry Predators make up the eight teams to participate in the league. A draft process was conducted by the New Kabaddi Federation (NKF) to ensure that all the teams are able to maintain a balance and the league is as competitive as possible.  The players were divided into Grade A, B, C and D where each team has been allotted with two ‘Grade A’ players each. 

Bangalore Rhinos received the services of two former pro kabaddi league players in the form of Arumugam and Vipin Malik. Chennai Challengers received the benefit of the services former National team and Pro Kabaddi league player, CH Manoj Kumar of Andhra Pradesh. Diler Delhi will see star Kabaddi player Sunil Jaypal, formerly with Pro Kabaddi league in action. Mumbai Che Raje were benefitted by the draft of local Kabaddi sensation Shashank Wankhede whereas Pondicherry Predators were boosted by the draft of Asian Games 2014 Gold-Medallist Parveen Kumar’s arrival.  V Vimal Raj and Jitendra Yadav former Pro Kabaddi league and Indian National team player respectively will boost the ranks of Pune Pride. Lastly, it was Telugu Bulls who benefitted from the draft of former Pro Kabaddi League player Harvinder Singh from Punjab completing the list of ‘Grade A’ marquee players to join the franchises. 

Ensuring that the teams are well rewarded for their performance in the league, a total prize purse of Rs 4 crore has been decided. The winner of IPKL will be awarded Rs 1.25 crore; first runner-up will be awarded Rs 75 lakh; second runner-up will take home Rs 50 lakh whereas third runner-up will receive Rs 25 lakh. In addition, awards will be given out daily. 

Over and above the prize money and the salaries, a 20 per cent share of the profit pool of the league will be equally distributed amongst all the players to ensure greater accountability and ownership amongst players towards the league.
A special impetus is also being put on broadcast and on behalf of the official broadcaster DSPORT. RC Venkateish, MD & CEO, Lex Sportel categorised the league as a momentous occasion towards bringing the best of live sporting action to audiences and fans. He stated what really stands out with IPKL is NKF’s vision of giving the two most important stakeholders of a sport, the fan and the player, the importance they deserve.  

In order to make sure that Indian viewers are able to enjoy all the action from the league in prime time slots between 8pm and 11pm, the tournament will be brought LIVE and Exclusive to all by an extensive network of broadcast partners DSPORT (English); MTV and MTV HD+ (Hindi), India’s No 1 Youth Entertainment brand, as well as several regional networks.