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50 free Kabaddi trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Kabaddi is the rare sport where holding your breath is part of the rulebook. A lone raider crosses into enemy territory chanting the game's name, tags as many defenders as possible and has to get home before the whole defence wrestles him to the mat. It is a village game of the Indian subcontinent that became an Asian Games medal sport, the centrepiece of a television league watched by hundreds of millions, and lately a World Cup staged in Europe. These 50 questions take the rules first: court markings, scoring terms, the reserves on the bench and the made-for-television tweaks the professional league added. Then come the Pro Kabaddi League's champions, record raiders, auction prices and expansion teams, followed by the international game: Asian Games upsets, the competing World Cups, the circle-style code and the sport's origins and many regional names. Play it to see whether you know a super raid from an empty one, hand it to a trivia night that wants something beyond cricket, or print it for a classroom.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which Tamil tradition is kabaddi said to descend from, with the raider cast as the bull?
Jallikattu
Jallikattu, the bull-taming sport, is treated as kabaddi's ancestor: Sangam literature records the game under the name sadugudu, with the raider playing the bull that must be tamed without being touched.
Q 02Which Maharashtra institute's team gave a kabaddi demonstration at the 1936 Berlin Olympics?
Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal
Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal, founded around 1914 and once known as the Hanuman Akhada, showed the sport at a physical education congress held alongside the Games.
Q 03How many players does each kabaddi side field on court, with reserves waiting to be substituted?
7
7 players a side take the court and raid in turn, since raids alternate between the two teams for the whole match, with tagged or tackled players sitting out until their side scores.
Q 04How long is each half of an international kabaddi match, with a five-minute break to change ends?
20 minutes
20 minutes a half is the international standard, and the Pro Kabaddi League keeps the same clock while layering on television-friendly rules such as a weight cap and extra-point bonuses.
Q 05Under standard kabaddi rules, how many extra points does an 'all out', every opponent put off court, earn?
2
All out is declared when the last defender goes off; the raiding side banks two extra points and the entire opposing team is put back on court to restart.
Q 06What is a Pro Kabaddi stop by three or fewer defenders called, worth two points instead of one?
Super tackle
Super tackle points reward a depleted defence: the two-point reward applies only while a side has three or fewer players left, a rule added to keep one-sided matches alive.
Q 07What does Pro Kabaddi call the attempt after two empty ones, when the attacker must score or go out?
Do-or-die raid
Do-or-die raid is the league's fix for stalling: a third straight blank means the raider is declared out and the defence collects the point instead.
Q 08Under what weight must every Pro Kabaddi player stay, one of the league's made-for-television rules?
85 kg
85 kg is the ceiling, and the same television-minded rulebook added the Super 10 and High 5, extra points for ten raid points or five tackles by one player in a match.
Q 09Which country handed India its first Asian Games kabaddi defeat, in a 2018 group match in Jakarta?
South Korea
South Korea's 24–23 group win at the Garuda Theatre was India's first loss since kabaddi became a medal sport, and the Koreans went on to their first silver.
Q 10How many reserves does a kabaddi side keep on its bench, behind the starting line-up?
5
5 substitutes fill out a 12-man matchday squad, though a player put out by a tag or a stop returns through revival, not substitution, once a teammate scores.
Q 11How many points must a kabaddi raider score in one attempt for it to be recorded as a 'super raid'?
3
3 or more points in one attempt count as a super raid; a scoreless one is an empty raid, and the Pro Kabaddi League hands an extra point to anyone reaching 10 raid points in a match.
Q 12How many raids per team does the Pro Kabaddi League use to break a playoff tie, with no clock, dismissals or revivals?
5
Five raids per team settle it, each taken without a time limit, and the deep marking is counted as a scoring marking so a raider can score without making a tag.
Q 13What are a kabaddi court's side strips called, live only after the raider has touched a defender?
Lobbies
Lobbies widen the pitch only after contact: before a raider touches anyone, stepping into them means going out, but once a defender is tagged the chase can spill into them.
Q 21Which India captain was the priciest buy at the first Pro Kabaddi auction, going for ₹12.80 lakh?
Rakesh Kumar
Rakesh Kumar, who had led India to Asian Games gold in 2006 and 2010, went to the Bihar franchise, while Deepak Niwas Hooda fetched ₹12.60 lakh as the second-highest price.
Q 22How many franchises contested the first Pro Kabaddi season, each paying up to US$250,000 to join?
8
8 franchises started out, and the league grew to 12 for its fifth season in 2017 by adding four teams, including sides for Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.
Q 23Which 2017 expansion franchise won its first Pro Kabaddi title in the 2024 final, beating Patna Pirates?
Haryana Steelers
Q 14Which traditional kabaddi style revives one player per opponent put out, across a 40-minute game?
Sanjeevani
Sanjeevani is the revival form: a side that puts out an entire opposing team in it earns four extra points, and the game pauses for a five-minute break between halves.
Q 15How wide is circle-style kabaddi's circular pitch, the code that holds its own separate World Cup?
22 m
22 m across is the regulation circle, and the code proved popular enough to get its own World Cup in 2010, with the first final staged in Ludhiana.
Q 16How many players per side take the sand in beach kabaddi, a barefoot game of two 15-minute halves?
4
4 a side is the beach format, played on levelled sand by the sea or a river and contested at the Asian Beach Games, while a five-a-side indoor version has its own shortened rules.
Q 17Which name does western India traditionally use for kabaddi, a game Nepal calls kapardi?
Hu-tu-tu
Hu-tu-tu is the western Indian name, and the list runs on: chedugudu in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, ha-do-do in eastern India, baibalaa in the Maldives and chakgudu in Sri Lanka.
Q 18In which year was the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India founded, compiling the standard rulebook?
1973
1973 is the founding year of the AKFI, which followed the All-India Kabaddi Federation of 1950, and its rulebook now underpins a sport watched by hundreds of millions each year.
Q 19Which broadcaster has aired Pro Kabaddi since its debut and bought 74% of its parent Mashal in 2015?
Star Sports
Star Sports has carried the league since its first season in 2014, and the channel's parent Star India took control of Mashal the following year.
Q 20The first Pro Kabaddi season drew 435 million viewers, second in India only to which competition?
Indian Premier League
Indian Premier League cricket pulled 552 million that season against kabaddi's 435 million, a gap narrow enough for the broadcaster to buy control of the league's owner the next year.
Haryana Steelers, runners-up the season before, beat the league's only three-time champions in the final to become the first of the 2017 expansion teams to lift the trophy.
Q 24Which cricket legend was unveiled as co-owner of the Tamil Thalaivas at their 2017 launch?
Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar signed on as co-owner when the Chennai side was unveiled in 2017, a season in which 12 franchises spent ₹46.99 crore at auction on more than 400 players.
Q 25Which city's John Cain Arena hosted a Pro Kabaddi exhibition the day before the 2024 final?
Melbourne
Melbourne hosted the 'Melbourne Raid' on 28 December 2024, two exhibition matches staged in Victoria while the season's trophy was settled back in India the next day.
Q 26Which Screwvala-owned side won Pro Kabaddi's second season, a year after losing the first final?
U Mumba
U Mumba, run by Ronnie Screwvala's Unilazer Ventures, beat Bengaluru Bulls in the 2015 final, the middle one of three consecutive finals the side reached from 2014 to 2016.
Q 27Which 'Dubki King' raider was the first to reach 1,000 Pro Kabaddi points, during the 2019 season?
Pardeep Narwal
Pardeep Narwal's dubki, a duck beneath the defenders' arms, carried him past 1,500 raid points in 2022 and 1,600 in 2023, after an eight-point single raid in a 2017 playoff.
Q 28Which Iranian left-corner defender was 2018's costliest foreign buy at ₹1 crore, then 2025's MVP?
Fazel Atrachali
Fazel Atrachali was the first player to 500 Pro Kabaddi tackle points, took Best Defender in the fourth season, and lifted the 2025 trophy as the champions' most valuable player.
Q 29Which Iranian defender was first to top ₹2 crore at three straight Pro Kabaddi auctions, to 2025?
Mohammad Reza Shadloui
Mohammad Reza Shadloui joined Gujarat Giants for 2025 after the June auction, his third club in three seasons, having played for Puneri Paltan in 2023.
Q 30Which 'Hi-Flyer' raider cost a record ₹2.26 crore in 2022, only to hurt a knee in his first match?
Pawan Sehrawat
Pawan Sehrawat, bought by Tamil Thalaivas, had scored 39 raid points in a single 2019 match, the most by any raider in one game, and captained India to Asian Games gold in 2023.