KURASH
Country of origin: Uzbekistan/Turkey/central Asia
Part of the Asiad since: 2018
Biggest competitors: Armenia, Hungary

Kurash is a traditional martial art form of Uzbekistan that goes back centuries. In fact, it’s one of the Turkish terms for ‘wrestling’ and specifically refers to a number of folk wrestling styles practised in central Asia. Played between two athletes—one traditionally wearing a green jacket and the other a blue one—the aim of the game is to try to throw the opponent on the ground to earn points. If a player manages to throw his opponent forcefully on to his back—a move called khalol—he is declared the winner of the bout, which can last up to four minutes for men and three minutes for women. A yonbosh (or point) is awarded to a player when he manages to throw the opponent on his side. Two yonboshes make a khalol. A lower score, chala, is awarded when the participant throws his opponent weakly on his side. The sport, which originated in central Asia, travelled to the erstwhile Soviet Union (the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR) as well. The first official All-USSR Kurash championship took place in Kazan, Russia, in 1928 and was followed by the first Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic national championship in 1949. Since 1956, regular Tatar Kurash competitions have been organised in honour of Soviet hero and poet Musa Cälil. Over the past years, athletes from 36 Russian regions have participated in the Russian championships. The International Kurash Association, founded in 1998, has been holding championships since 1999. Another big league, the International Tatar Belt Wrestling Kurash Association, was founded on September 9, 2009, with the aim of popularising the sport further. Even though kurash is a centuries-old martial arts form, it only became an international sporting discipline in the 1980s. As of now, the international body of kurash has over 70 members across five continents. Although the sport has been included as a medal sport at the Asian Games for the first time this year, it was included in the Asian Indoor Games way back in 2007.

PENCAK SILAT
Country of origin: Indonesia
Part of the Asiad since: 2018
Biggest competitors: Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand

Pencak silat is a traditional Indonesian martial arts sport. Played largely in the Indonesian and Malaysian archipelago, the martial art form comprises mental spirit and principles of self-defence. The sport was first introduced internationally at the 2008 Asian Beach Games and later at the 2009 Asian Indoor Games. A pencak silat competition is held in four categories: ‘tanding’ (two teams send out one representative each to engage in a bout with each other; opponents have to abide by strict rules regarding stance, movement patterns and permitted attacking areas); ‘tunggal’ (a singles event, where contestants are called one after the other; only one contestant is allowed in the arena at a time, who showcases a solo routine—without weapons first, before moving on to an armed segment); ‘ganda’ (groups of two from the same team participate in doubles category; they showcase a three-minute routine, taking turns to perform unarmed and armed combat); and ‘regu’ (an unarmed team event, it involves routines performed by three members of the same team). The armed events are performed with knives or sticks. The pointed—but not sharp—knives are made of metal or wood, while the sticks are made of rattan. A match has three two-minute rounds. Points are awarded to players based on their performance in self-defence, attack, stamina, endurance, fighting spirit, techniques and synchronisation, among other professional technicalities. Not just Indonesia, pencak silat is also practised in other countries. In fact, in 1980, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei established an international organisation for martial arts federations from various countries called the Persekutuan Pencak Silat Antara Bangsa (Persilat).

KABADDI
Country of origin: India
Part of the Asiad since: 1990
Medals won at the Asiad by origin country: 9
Biggest competitors: Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, South Korea

A contact team sport, kabaddi originated in India and was officially introduced to the world during the 1938 Indian Olympic Games in Kolkata. Popular in the northern belt of India, especially Punjab and Haryana due to their local martial art traditions, the sport is today played all over the country. Played between two teams of seven players each, the object of the game is for a single player (the raider) to run into the opposing team’s side of the court, ‘tag’ as many of their defenders as possible and return to his/her half of the court without being tackled by the defenders. Players score points based on the number of defenders they tag, while the opposing team earns points for stopping the raider. Players are taken out of the game if they are tagged or tackled, but can also be ‘revived’ for each point scored by their team from a tag or tackle. India, which has had a Kabaddi Federation since the 1950s, has to its credit the most gold medals won in the sport at the Asian Games. The current men’s kabaddi team, in fact, recently won another gold medal at the inaugural series of the Kabaddi Masters tournament in Dubai in June. Captained by Ajay Thakur (originally from Himachal Pradesh), India’s male squad has retained raiders such as Girish Maruti Ernak, Deepak Niwas Hooda, Mohit Chhillar, Sandeep Narwal, Pardeep Narwal, Rishank Devadiga, Monu Goyat, Rohit Kumar, Raju Lal Choudhary and Rahul Chaudhari. Twenty-five-year-old Gangadhari Mallesh from Telangana is the latest entry in the squad, backed by his 30-odd appearances in the Pro Kabaddi League. The female squad, headed by Mamatha Poojary from Karnataka, includes Sakshi Kumari, Kavita Devi, Manpreet Kaur, Payel Chowdhury, Ritu Negi, Sonali Vishnu Shingate, Sayali Sanjay Keripale, Randeep Kaur Khehra, Shalini Pathak, Usha Rani Narasimhalah, among others. Other competing countries include Pakistan (which has the Pakistan Kabaddi Federation, formed in 1964) and Bangladesh (which has the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of Bangladesh, formed in 1973). Interestingly, kabaddi is the national sport of Bangladesh, where a variation of the sport called ‘ha-du-du’ is quite popular. Ha-du-du has no definite rules and is played with different rules in different areas. In Iran, the Community of Kabaddi was formed in 1996, the same year the country joined the Asian Kabaddi Federation—it joined the International Kabaddi Federation in 2001.

WUSHU
Country of origin: China
Part of the Asiad since: 1990
Medals won at the Asiad by origin country: 53
Biggest competitors: Iran, Vietnam, South Korea

Wushu, comprising punches and kicks, is the Chinese term for martial arts. Its competitive form is composed of two disciplines—taolu and sanda. While it has other disciplines too, such as self-defence, breaking hard objects and other related practices, these are not performed in competitions. Taolu involves martial art patterns, acrobatic movements and techniques, for which athletes are judged and given points according to specific rules. The forms comprise basic movements, such as stances, kicks, punches, balances, jumps, sweeps and throws, based on traditional Chinese martial art styles, and can even be changed for competitions to highlight one’s strengths. Sanda, on the other hand, is a more modern fighting method and a full-contact sport. It includes boxing, kickboxing and wrestling, basically all the combat aspects of wushu. Sanda can be compared to mixed martial arts or Thailand’s Muay Thai, but includes many more grappling techniques. It was in 1958 that the Chinese government established the All-China Wushu Association as an umbrella organisation to regulate martial arts training. The Chinese State Commission for Physical Culture and Sports took the lead in creating standardised forms for most of the major arts. During this period, a national wushu system—which included standard forms, teaching curriculum and instructor grading—was established. Subsequently, the sport that was first introduced at the Asian Games in 1990 has been dominated by China, which has won 53 medals at the competition—six in 1990, five in 1994, nine in 1998, five in 2002, nine in 2006, nine in 2010 and 10 in 2014. Each year, there are 14 events/gold medals to be won. Internationally, though, it was the International Wushu Federation (IWF), which pushed the sport into the limelight. The IWF holds World Wushu Championships once every two years, the first of which were held in 1991 in Beijing.

SAMBO
Country of origin: Erstwhile Soviet Union (Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics, or USSR)
Part of the Asiad since: 2018
Biggest competitors: Czech Republic, Bulgaria, France

Sambo is a Russian-Soviet martial art and combat sport. Interestingly, the word ‘sambo’ is an acronym for ‘samozashchita bez oruzhiya’, which translates to ‘self-defence without weapons’. Sambo is relatively modern since its development began in the early 1920s by the Soviet Red Army to improve their hand-to-hand combat abilities. It was intended to be a merger of the most effective techniques of other martial arts. The two pioneers of the sport, Viktor Spiridonov and Vasili Oshchepkov, were martial artists and army officers. They developed two different styles of the sport independently, which eventually merged and became sambo. Anatoly Kharlampiev, a student of Oshchepkov, is also considered a founder of sambo. Oshchepkov, in fact, spent several years in Japan, training in judo under its founder Jigoro Kano. He was later accused of being a Japanese spy. He was arrested, and died in prison. Compared to Oshchepkov’s style, called ‘free wrestling’ in Russia, Spiridonov’s style was softer and less brutal. It was also less strength-dependent. Over the years, several branches of sambo have emerged, including combat sambo (for the military), freestyle sambo, self-defence sambo, sport sambo (similar to judo due to the use of takedowns of opponents), among others. It was in 1938 that the sport was officially recognised by the USSR All-Union Sports Committee. This year, for the first time ever, the sport will be part of the Asian Games in four categories distinguished by weight—two each for men and women. The matches will have five-minute bouts (four minutes for women), where players will try to outdo each other through a series of holds and throws. Compiled from various websites