Many unconventional sports activities in the Second Asian Indoor Games are new to Hong Kong but, like conventional sports, they help build players' characters.
Kabaddi, introduced for the first time to the Games, is a good example. Kabaddi is a team sport mostly played by young men in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan and is popular throughout Southeast Asia. The game is played on a flat surface between two teams of seven players in 20-minute halves for men and 15-minute halves for women.
The field is divided into two halves with a 'baulk line' or dividing line on each side. The teams have to stay on their home sides, with one team sending a 'raider' across the middle line to the opposite team's half, where the goal is to chant the word kabaddi while tagging members of the opposite team before returning to the home side. Tagged members are 'out' and the opposing team earns one point.
If a raider fails to chant during a raid or is stopped by the defender before reaching the baulk line, the raider will be sent off costing the team one point. If a raider returns to the home side without being stopped or breaking rules, no point will be awarded and the defenders become the raiders. The teams take turns sending a raider across the opposite team's half and the team with the most points awarded at the end of the game is the winner.
The sport requires speed and muscle co-ordination, Manuel Silverio, chairman of the board of directors of the Asian Indoor Games organising committee, said. 'It is very important that team members work well together and have a strong team spirit.'
He said extreme sports, which are also on the programme, were another excellent way to test athletes' perseverance and courage and that the challenge lay in quick thinking to overcome obstacles.