Pro Kabaddi League: How kabaddi players from rural India are becoming crorepatis

Pro Kabaddi League 2024 features stars like Sachin Tanwar, Guman Singh, and Maninder Singh, set to shine this season.

You answer a few questions and get a crore.

That’s how India’s successful Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) was marketed. Referenced in pop culture, right from the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire to the recent Bollywood film Sector 26, this game show gave a crore to its triumphant contestants.

In 2024, some spirited kabaddi players from across the country have already bagged a crore, but they will have to give quite a few answers in the weeks to come. All eyes are on their performances in the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), kickstarting this week, even as sports fans get set to cheer their favourite teams in this fast-paced contact sport.

Sachin Tanwar – Tamil Thalaivas

Sachin will not forget August 15, 2024. Even as the auction bids for PKL 2024 flew fast that day, an emotional Sachin ended up being the most expensive player, joining the Tamil Thalaivas for a whopping 2.15 crores.

For Sachin Tanwar, hailing from Badbar village in Jhunjhunu district in Rajasthan, it was a “wild dream come true.” A renowned name in the Indian kabaddi ecosystem now, his tryst with the sport started a long time ago, when he once bunked school to play kabaddi. “My uncle, my elder brother Deepak... everyone in the family used to play kabaddi. I would be spared for bunking school if I played the game well,” he laughs.

He did. After representing India in the 2016 Junior Asian Championship, Sachin debuted in the PKL, impressing all with his raiding skills, and also went to become a key part of India’s successful kabaddi campaigns. “It makes us feel proud that such a rural contact sport, played on dirt ground, is getting liked in urban India.”