Ultimate Frisbee soars into Karnataka’s big leagues

Ultimate frisbee is slowly gaining popularity as a serious sport in Karnataka. Read on...

Frisbee which has long been a popular pastime in the West has now evolved into a serious sport called Ultimate Frisbee. The game was introduced in 1968 at Columbia High School in New Jersey, USA by Joel Silver. It has now spread across the globe and over 100 countries, including India have taken to Ultimate Frisbee in a big way.

Ultimate Frisbee is a non-contact sport played with flying discs on both grass and sand. There are no officials to run the matches; players officiate themselves in the spirit of the sport. On grass, it is a team of seven and comprises four men and three women, while on sand, a team consists of five players — three men and two women. The ratio of players alternates after every two points.

The game is played in an arena 40 metres wide and 100 metres long, and a match lasts for 75 minutes.

Frisbee has gained international recognition from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) but it is yet to become an Olympic sport, and there are speculations that it will be part of the 2032 Olympics in Australia. It is governed by an international apex body called World Flying Disc Federation and a national body in India called Flying Disc Sports Federation of India, which was formed in 2010.

According to Aishwarya J, an ardent exponent of the game and secretary of Karnataka Ultimate Players Association (KUPA), frisbee is played across the nation in several cities including Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Goa, Kochi, Alappuzha, Jaipur and Trivandrum among other places. The game is also supported by NGOs who have introduced this sport to underprivileged children and those from economically weaker sections to develop their sporting skills.

“In India, the game has its largest base in Karnataka. There are over a thousand players who play Ultimate Frisbee either for recreation or as a competitive sport. That apart, there are 18 clubs which seriously conduct Ultimate Frisbee tournaments in Bengaluru,” says Aishwarya.

The State Association also organises tournaments in schools and colleges. It recently conducted an inter-state tournament where Karnataka won a silver. Institutions such as Jain and Azim Premji universities, National Law College, IIM, IISc and others, have been at the forefront to promote the sport.