5 countries you probably did NOT know play kabaddi

Gone are the days when only cricket and football players were household names in India. After a resounding success of the first season of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi, now even kabaddi players hold a celebrity status. The first match of the franchise-based league was viewed by a whopping 435 million people across the country, which is almost three times the number of people who watched the 2014 FIFA World Cup in India.Kabaddi, which is also the national game of Bangladesh is a very popular sport when it comes to South Asia, but not many are familiar with this game in European and American countries. However, there are quite a few countries where the game of raiders and defenders holds a significant value. For eg. Did you know that England has a professional kabaddi league?Let us take a look at five countries you never thought played kabaddi:

#1 Argentina

The Argentina kabaddi tea

Argentina, a South American country which is popularly known for its football team and players like Lionel Messi, Javier Mascherano and Diego Maradona, has been a regular participant at the kabaddi World Cup since 2011.

In the second edition of the circle-style kabaddi world cup played in Punjab, the Argentinian team, under the coaching of Ricardo and leadership of Orlando Baccino, finished fifth out of seven teams in the group stage. They failed to improve on their skills and performance in the next edition as they won just one and lost two matches in the initial phase. Their performance got worse in the next two world cups, where they were beaten by each and every team that came their way.