Doha: Desperate to catch up with the mighty Indians, kabbadi teams competing in the 15th Asian Games have turned to the experts from the country to scale the next level in the sport.
E Prasad Rao, the man who took the game from the mud fields of India to the mats inside international stadiums, has helped many Asian teams in the past and continues to get offers.
Rao is a recipient of the Dronacharya Award and has played a big role for the development of kabaddi in India, which has won all the four gold medals ever since the sport was introduced in the Asian Games in 1990.
He has taught the sport in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Japan and Korea and more recently he has been approached by Iran to learn the more aggressive style of play and challenge India's stranglehold.
"India are the champions and everybody will imitate the champions because they are the most skillful. So we are trying to teach Japan and Iran these skills. I have taken kabaddi from the mud to the mats and now my dream is to see the game at the Olympics," Rao said.
On Iran, who finished second to India in the 2004 World Cup in Mumbai, he said: "This may be Iran's first time at the Asian Games, but do not underestimate them, they are slim, but strong which is ideal for a contact game."
Iran, who have been coached by former Indian player Manjit Singh Sandhu, have emerged as a force to reckon with as Sandhu has instilled a more aggressive style of play into the West Asians.
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