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The rockstar of kabaddi

ANISUR Rahman from Incheon
Despite being the national sport of India and Bangladesh, the physical contact sport of kabaddi has traditionally garnered little attention from mainstream media in the subcontinent. But that seems to be changing now, thanks to introduction of the franchisebased Indian Pro Kabaddi League this year.
The money-spinning tournament, where business tycoons and Bollywood stars invested millions of rupees, was widely televised and attracted following from all across the sub-continent and beyond. It also made celebrities out of kabaddi players, who were hitherto relatively unknown beyond their arena. One such star, and perhaps the biggest one, is the India captain Rakesh Kumar, who was recruited by the Patna Pirates at a whopping price tag of 12.8 lakh rupees.
With his rock-star looks and exquisite skills, Rakesh has established himself as the pre-eminent force in kabaddi and is deservedly leading the Indian national team in the Incheon Asian Games bidding for a seventh successive gold medal since it's in the 1990. Rakesh feels that the game will get even more lucrative as the Pro Kabaddi League keeps flourishing.
"The amount of money is not an issue as the league has just made a beginning. I think, in the coming seasons, players will get more money than I got this time. Anyway, we are happy with the amount we got and we are trying to improve ourselves," Rakesh told a few Bangladeshi journalists at the mixed zone after leading his side to a facile 66-27 point win overThailand yesterday.
The lad from Delhi also informed that the Indian team have included eight new players, who have played well in the Pro Kabaddi League and believes that the franchise-based tournament will encourage youngsters to take kabaddi as a profession.
"I think the introduction of Pro Kabaddi
League will help the players, especially the newcomers as they now have a stage to showcase their skills. They will be trying hard to get a chance in the clubs as well as the national team," said Rakesh, who was feted with the Arjuna Award in 2011.
Talking to the Bangladeshi journalists, Rakesh happily shed some light on his life, his past and future plan as well as the performance of Bangladesh team against Pakistan.
"Actually I had started playing kabaddi in Nizampur, a village outside Delhi, where very few sports are played. As kabaddi was one of the prominent sports played in our village, I chose the game during my school life and have been playing ever since," said Rakesh, who is also an employee of the Indian Railway.
"Bangladesh have some good players but they are lacking in physical strength," said Rakesh adding that Bangladesh captain Ziaur Rahman, who was recruited by the Umumba franchise, has been a good player over the years, but age is gradually getting the better of him.
Rakesh informed he has a plan of building a kabaddi academy in his village to produce good players in order to give something back to the game which has given him so much.