Time to take it to next level

As India's unique heritage sport, kabaddi can be truly proud of its ancient traditions and pan Indian popularity As you can imagine, it acquired different forms in various parts of the subcontinent, over the centuries. In the second half of the 20th century, as India united into a Republic, so too, began the process of unitingkabaddiintoasin-glerulebook.

Uniquely, India had the privilege of spreading this robust, full contact sport around the world. For which, a standard version and a detailed rule book was mandatory While many must have contributed to this process, E. Prasad Rao is widely credited with crafting the rule-book on which modern, international, competitive kabaddi is now flourishing.

Along comes 2014 and the evolutionary wheel of kabaddi is set to roll again. The traditional kabaddifraterni-ty may well think, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. Yes, the sport is already a spectacular, absorbing contest. Non stop action. Visceral, edge-of-the-seat excitement. Perfect time frame of hour-long matches.

Extremely courageous, athletic players. However, with Star Sports Pro Kabaddi comes a fantastic opportunity to take the game well beyond its core enthusiasts.

As Star Sports prepares to unleash its spectacular production, to shock and awe viewers with the slick, sophisticated, modern avatar of kabaddi, the opportunity of enhancing the game's appeal to the next level, became the primary motivation for a few significant rule tweaks.

With the modern, international, competitive avatar of kabaddi being brilliantly showcased to millions for the first time, it is an opportunity to go for the perfect.