Tickets for the first ever Pro Kabbadi League exhibition match to be played on Australian soil are now on sale.
Kabaddi – the second biggest sport in India behind cricket – is a fast-paced, high-intensity contact sport, featuring two teams of seven battling for points by ‘raiding’ the opponent’s side of the field.
The challenge lies in tagging as many defenders as possible within a 30-second raid.
Played over 40 minutes, Kabaddi demands agility, strategy, and teamwork, and is known to be a thrilling sport to watch.
Less than two months after returning from Delhi with a promise to bring Kabaddi to Victoria, Premier Jacinta Allan joined Tourism, Sport and Major Events Minister Steve Dimopoulos, Indian Consul General Dr Sushil Kumar and AFL greats Campbell Brown and Josh Kennedy to announce the thrilling double-header.
Premier Jacinta Allan said that she was proud to announce the event.
“Walking across the road from the Boxing Day Test to the first ever Australian Pro Kabaddi match – you can’t get better than that,” Ms Allan said.
The event will start with a curtain-raiser, featuring a team of Australian athletes taking on an Indian team of Pro Kabaddi players.
Then the main event: a Pro Kabaddi All Stars game between two Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) teams, filled with Indian superstars.
Former Hawthorn and Gold Coast star Campbell Brown will coach the Australian side.
Former Sydney Swans skipper Josh Kennedy will captain the team, which includes other AFL greats.
Pro Kabaddi Melbourne Raid will be held at John Cain Arena on December 28 – after stumps on day three of the Boxing Day Test between Australia and India at the MCG.
The Pro Kabaddi League launched in 2014 and has nearly 300 million viewers a year in India.
Victoria is home to almost 260,000 Indian-born residents and more than 370,000 Victorians have Indian ancestry and is currently the top state in Australia for visitation and expenditure from India.
Tickets for the Pro Kabaddi Melbourne Raid start from $10 for children and tickets for adults from $55.
Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.
