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It was a night out of a fairy tale, set in India.
Dressed in a handmade sari, former Kiwi Fern Kath Keremete walked into a beautifully landscaped property. The night ahead she had an elaborate five-star meal, a live band, and a night of hand and foot waiting, all courtesy of the Punjab government.
It was 2013 and Keremete was in the northern state of India as part of the first New Zealand women’s kabaddi team to compete in the Kabaddi World Cup. It is an important event for the state, so it makes every effort for fairy tale night, with kabaddi teams from around the world as guests of honor.
Kabaddi is a traditional sport that is practiced throughout India, particularly in the northern state of Punjab. Keremete compares it to the Kiwi bullrush game.
Will Russell / Getty Images
Kathleen Wharton-Keremete playing for the Warriors at the NRL Nines in Perth this year.
“It’s like one against one, but as a team, and it’s quite strategic and technical.”
One of the most popular sports in India, kabaddi is a cross between bullrush and wrestling, where two teams of seven face off and score points by tackling and holding down their competitors.
There’s also a playable indoor version, which Keremete described as similar to the outdoor one, but “it’s not one-on-one, it’s all-one.”
In New Zealand, the game has been gaining popularity and has attracted many women from sports such as rugby or mixed martial arts.
In fact, this is how team manager and organizer Tara Singh-Bain started looking for talent to build a kabaddi team before the world cup.
Kabaddi NZ / Supplied
New Zealand’s defensive chain against Pakistan at the 2013 Kabaddi World Cup.
The idea of forming a team came up while I was watching an advertisement from India about the Kabaddi World Cup. A friend wondered aloud why New Zealand didn’t have a team, which made Singh-Bain wonder.
He connected with the local marae people and asked if they knew of any women who were interested in playing. An open house was organized, which attracted women with a solid sports background.
Keremete said that at the 2013 cup, many of the players were seasoned New Zealand athletes from teams like Black Ferns or Kiwi Ferns.
In 2013, they were the underprivileged of the kabaddi world. Most of the women hadn’t even heard of the sport before being asked to try it out, and had spent the past three months watching YouTube videos, training, and looking for the rules.
“We practiced together, we flew to India, we had our first game and our first game was India and they crushed us,” Keremete said.
Kabaddi NZ / Supplied
Elizabeth Motu and Sarina Fiso with the New Zealand team’s check to finish runners-up at the Kabaddi World Cup in India in 2014.
It was a steep learning curve, but after that loss, Keremete said the team went from strength to strength, playing against other countries, in front of crowds of tens of thousands, until they found themselves once again against India in the final. .
While they lost that game, they took home the second prize, 51 lakh rupees, or around NZ $ 100,000, and Keremete was happy to give India a good game in their rematch, losing by only a few points.
Finishing second in his first world cup was a great achievement and Singh-Bain recalled the feeling of pride in front of a crowd of tens of thousands of people.
“I am proud of myself for doing something for my New Zealand community and I brought the New Zealand community to my homeland.”
He sees great things in the future for Kabaddi and hopes to one day lead a team to compete in the Asian Games.
Singh-Bain is now the president of the New Zealand Kabaddi Council and is working with his Australian counterparts to get the Australian and New Zealand teams into the Asian Games.
Stanley Chou / Getty Images
Japan faces Iran during the kabaddi women’s group match at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
For many of the team, the 2013 competition was their first time traveling to India. Since then, they have returned for two more world cups: 2014, when they were second again, and 2016, where they took third place. They have also competed in two international indoor competitions in Malaysia in 2018 and 2019.
When the women first passed in 2013, the team was predominantly Maori and found cultural connections to the sport.
“For us as Maori especially, we had a pretty deep connection to sport,” Keremete said.
“It is a sport that does not require equipment, it does not require equipment, it can be played anywhere and anyone can participate. It’s a whole town sport. ”
The team loved that concept, as well as the spiritual side of the game, he said, and they made sure to be respectful.
They were also able to learn more about the game’s protocols. The New Zealand team had been practicing many of these, but lacked a deeper understanding of why they were doing it.
“The field is very sacred. We make sure to acknowledge that by touching the marks, then ourselves and joining our hands as if in prayer, to acknowledge for them, that is their religion, “said Keremete.
“We learned a lot about his tikanga and why the game is so special.”
For now, the Covid-19 pandemic has slowed more competitions, but the team was eager to return to India to experience more of the culture and finally claim that world title.
* This article was provided by the Asia New Zealand Foundation and is republished with permission
– Asia Media Center
