A battle of corporates on the kabaddi court

No one cared about which level of management they belonged to as everyone was focussed on outwitting their opponent. Such was the passion on display during one of the matches in the Tamil Thalaivas Corporate Kabaddi Fest at the Express Avenue Mall on Saturday.  

A total of 38 teams, 32 men and six women participated in the three-day event which drew the attention of the audience who were out for their weekend shopping. IT employees, who might be masters in resolving a jigsaw puzzle in a computer, stepped out of their comfort zones, looking to excel in front of a decently packed arena.

“We have played kabaddi during our school and college days. After a number of years, we are again rekindling our interest to play the sport,” said Sathish Kumar, who works in the back-end team for Ford.

The event turned out to be a platform for specialists in other sports to join forces and explore new avenues. 

“We have our own cricket team and intramural games are conducted regularly as well. We are engaged with one sport or the other during our time away from office. Hence, it was helpful for us to group people and bring them here,” he added.

Of the 32 men’s teams, Tata Consultancy Services had the highest representation, fielding three separate outfits. Asked about what made the organisation send a contingent which was about 25 members strong, Vignesh, an IT analyst in the Siruseri branch, remarked, “We have professional cricket and football players and they have their own WhatsApp groups. We just put through a message asking interested ones to come and train with us. A few players are familiar with the sport and with their inputs, we prepared ourselves.”

While it is a rarity to see women give it all on the kabaddi mat in urban areas, half a dozen teams came out of their shell and showed what they are made of.

Talking about their involvement in the fest, Radha, General Manager of NTC Logistics, said, “We wanted to have fun. We are into a lot of activities like this. I think this is the first time women have taken a lead in forming a group. The experience has been too good. But, the popularity has to go up a little amongst women.”