IT'S one of the world's fastest growing sports with even the England football team joining in and now students are hoping to get more people playing Kabaddi in Oxford.

The ancient Indian sport is enjoyed by millions in Asia where it is taught in schools but is little known in this country. 

Samvid Kurlekar, 21, set up the Oxford University Kabaddi club last year with his friend Soham Bandyopadhyay when they arrived to study in the city and discovered it did not have its own team.

He now has a dedicated band of around 20 players, 80 per cent of whom had never played the game before, and is hoping to expand further including staging 'town versus gown' matches. 

Kabaddi is known as 'tag for grown-ups' and sees teams compete to score points by tagging opposing players. 

One player, known as a 'raider', is sent to attempt to tag members of the opposing team while repeatedly yelling 'Kabaddi' until they have crossed back over to their side of the pitch. 

If they stop to draw breath or pause at all then they forfeit all the points from that round. 

Mr Kurlekar said: "Everyone has grown up playing tag so it's an easy game to pick up, anyone can play it. 

"We really love the game and want to teach as many people as possible how to play.

"We'd love to get more of the Oxford community involved."

Oxford Mail:

Harry Kane and Kyle Walker play Kabaddi in training. Picture: PA

On the eve of their crucial World Cup game against Tunisia the England team were pictured playing Kabaddi in training as a way of building team unity and staying sharp. 

It has already been played in Oxford for generations at Magdalen College School. 

Mr Kurlekar and his team were demonstrating the game at the Oxford Mela festival in the Leys Leisure Centre on Sunday. 

He said: "The great thing about it is that it requires almost no equipment to play.

"All you have to do is draw some lines on the ground and away you go.

"It's a game that involves a lot of movement and you have to have fast reaction times and try and guess what the other team is going to do. 

"There is a great sense of team spirt and it's also very good exercise."