🇮🇳
Traditional & Cultural Sports
Kabaddi
A high-tempo South Asian contact sport in which a solo 'raider' crosses into enemy territory to tag defenders and return home — all in a single breath.
🇲🇾
Traditional & Cultural Sports
Sepak Takraw
Southeast Asia's answer to volleyball — three players per side vault into acrobatic scissor-kicks over a badminton-height net, using only their feet, knees, chest and head.
Two of Asia's most spectacular team sports.
| Attribute | Kabaddi | Sepak Takraw |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Traditional & Cultural Sports | Traditional & Cultural Sports |
| Origin | 🇮🇳 India | 🇲🇾 Malaysia |
| Estimated origin | c. 4th century BCE (referenced in Vedic literature) | 15th century (Malay sultanate courts) |
| Team or individual | Team | Team |
| Players | 7 per team | 3 per team |
| Playing area | court | court |
| Field dimensions | 13 m × 10 m (men) — split by a midline. Bonus line, baulk line and lobbies inside each half. | 13.4 m × 6.1 m — split by a net 1.52 m high (men) or 1.42 m (women). |
| Match duration | ~40 min | ~45 min |
| Match structure | Two halves of 20 minutes with a 5-minute half-time. Time is running (raid-clock in the professional league is 30 seconds). | Best of three sets to 21 points; deciding set to 15. |
| Scoring | One point per tag (touch), one point per tackle, one point per bonus, 2 points per super tackle, 2 points per all-out bonus. | Rally scoring — every rally wins a point. |
| Objective | Score more points than the opposing team by tagging defenders on a raid and by tackling raiders — all while managing your seven players on court. | Land the ball in the opponent's court, or force them to hit it into the net or out of bounds — using only your feet, knees, chest, shoulders and head. |
| Governing body | International Kabaddi Federation | International Sepak Takraw Federation |
| Olympic sport | No | No |
| Popularity | regional | regional |
Want a comparison we haven't made? Suggest one — we curate every pair by hand.