Pro Kabaddi League launches with cash, glitz and glamour

It was hold your breath time as the auction for Indiarsquos first ever Pro Kabaddi League took off at the ITC Grand Central Hotel in Parel yesterday morning It was already a sweltering May morn but the mercury went up a couple of notches as the auction saw some feverish buying of kabaddi players from across the country and beyondKabaddi is a game of skill speed and agility Pic for representational purposes onlyThough most of the players were from India there was a smattering from Iran S Korea Nepal and Pakistan too The Pro Kabaddi League takes off from July 26 and ends on August 31 It is being played at different venues in the countryGoing going goneThe gavel came down at Rs 4 lakh 5 lakh 9 lakh one may not think too much of these amounts as we are used to players going for astonishing sums in the glitzy highprofile Indian Premier League IPL yet it is a beginning and a significant one at thatThe team owners and representatives talk about their vision for the league Abhishek Bachchan has the mike PicPradeep DhivarThe auctioneerrsquos voice went on as franchise owners and strategists started bidding for players ldquoDo I hear 440 yes 460hellip does nobody want him at 460 Yes I see a hand going uphellip 480 it now ishellip the voice cut through as buyers did their mental arithmeticFranchises bid for players at the Pro Kabaddi League auction yesterday at Grand Central ITC Parel PicPradeep DhivarA sports auction is like any other auction hectic bidding pumping adrenaline silence when an lsquounwantedrsquo player comes up for bidding ego battles and smiles of triumph when the bid is won In sporting auctions it is the human element that replaces inanimate objects being bid forAuctions in fact are the latest story about Indian sport hockey tennis badminton football also have leagues here following the IPL success Now one can add kabaddi to that clone queuePressAs the auction tapered off last player bid for and sold owners and representatives of owners of different teams moved into an adjoining room to address the press The cameras were ready for the glam quotient of this sport which has little glitz or star value attached to it Glam came in the shape of greysuited Abhishek Bachchan sporting a stubble The actor has a team called the Jaipur Pink Panthers in this pro leaguePerceptionWellknown sports anchor Charu Sharma coordinated the press conference that followed the auction Mumbai team owner Ronnie Screwvala who has named his city team a rather rousing U Mumba stated that ldquoKabaddi is a zara hatke sportYet contrary to perception it is a mainline game with at least 1500 clubs playing the sport We hope this league promotes both a competitive and collaborative spiritrdquoDelhi team no name yet for that squad CEO Radha Kapoor the lone lady on the dais stated that this was a ldquogreat initiative and a proud moment It is a way to harness peoplersquos dreams and showcase India globallyrdquoFrom a global flavour to the game of the soil Kolkata team representative whose squad goes by the name of Bengal Warriors said that kabaddi is a ldquotruly Indian sport which we played as children it has always been an integral part of our livesrdquoAbhishek Bachchan who was centre on the dais stated that it had been ldquoAn exciting exhilarating morning with the kabaddi auction The winner is the sport and sportspersons I urge the media to really get behind this league and do all whatever you can to help promote this sportrdquoAttentionFlashbulbs continued to explode in response to that Smiling widest on the stage was kabaddi federation chief J S Gehlot who sensed that the sport now stands on the cusp of very exciting times Gehlot stated that ldquoThis Indian sport has made it to the Asian Games and now we have to make that leap towards the Olympics The sport is now in the international era and this is surely its biggest pushrdquoLike Abhishek Gehlot too urged the media to back the league and sport with publicity ldquoEven two lines in a newspaper can make a kabaddi player forget his sweat Electronic media played its part in making cricket the juggernaut that it is today and kabaddi in fact is played in many more nations and making inroads into more and more countries Today there are 32 countries that play kabaddi Do something for this sport toordquo he finishedPromotionsFor the representatives of Puneri Paltans kabaddi team from Pune ldquoit is about taking up a game with passion The Telugu Titans representative stated that ldquoit is all about promoting the gamerdquo while the ldquoBangaluru Bullsrdquo stated that the objectives were to make it the ldquobest sporting league there is make Bangalore count and give back something to the gamerdquo After that threepronged objective the Patna team spokesperson team yet to be named had a succinct two words ldquothank yourdquoPakistanSome questions followed with the press asking about a couple three to four Pakistan players who were up for grabs in the league Officials simply said they were hopeful that Pak players would be cleared to play in the League and were ldquoworking towards thatrdquo Some franchises have bought Pakistan playersOrganizers merely stated that they were hopeful They admitted that there were no visa guarantees as yet All the organizers stressed that this initiative was a beginning ldquowe are sowing the seeds of a treerdquo said Charu while others stated that they were ldquosmall fish compared to IPL but they had belief in this idea There was a cap of Rs 60 lakh for buying the players and the prize money is Rs 1 croreIt is ldquosmall fishrdquo as was stated but then every start up cannot be on the same scale of the IPL given the stature and visibility that cricket already had prior to the IPL Having said that one can only hope that the kabaddi league metamorphoses into bigger things post this beginningWhile most Indian sporting leagues and players dream about getting the profile and making the megabucks that IPL players make therersquos one thing that this league should not emulate from the IPL modelMore kabaddi and less controversy should be the credo unlike the IPL where controversy and cricket seem to go together like batting partners on opposite ends of the pitch