From the time we started to re-dis­cover our identity and truly began our march as an independent coun­try, India has made rapid strides on the path of progress - socially, eco­nomically and politically This also holds true for our sporting indus­try. We started dabbling in global sports and today, manyofour finest athletes compete at the highest lev­els across a multitude of sporting disciplines. However, in this march forward so far, we have unfortu­nately left behind our very own sport - the sport of kabaddi.

Ironically, kabaddi is a sport in which India has demonstrated global domination, a sport in which we have won every gold medal at ev­ery major tournament on offer till date. A vital element of our own heritage, kabaddi is so deeply root­ed in every Indian that it almost forms a part of our identity. In fact, kabaddi has its origins in the Ma-habharata which makes it older than most known sports around the world. And yet until now it has been forgotten by the masses, rele­gated to the history books and the backyard games of children.

It was my brother-in-law and sports commentator, Charu Shar-ma, who reintroduced me to the sport of kabaddi. Charu had been covering the sport during the Doha Asian Games in 2006 and explained to me how the game had evolved and almost reinvented itself into a modern, competitive international offering.

While Charu piqued my inter­est, itwasformerNBAInternation-al President, Heidi Ueberroth who made me think about kabaddi very seriously In 2010, during her visit to India, Heidi mentioned being captivated by the sport which she felt was ideally suited for television audiences. I thus revisited the game years after having first played it in school.

We felt that kabaddi, our rough diamond only needed to be re-pack­aged and made more relevant for to­day's audiences.

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