Kabaddi is a contact team sport played between two teams of seven players each on a rectangular court divided by a mid-line. One of the oldest traditional games of South Asia, kabaddi was first organised competitively in India in the 1920s, entered the National Games of India in 1938, and has been part of the Asian Games since 1990. The Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI), founded in 1972, governs the sport domestically under the framework of the Asian Kabaddi Federation (AKF) and the International Kabaddi Federation (IKF).

Scoring in kabaddi is fast and continuous — every raid is an opportunity for either side to score. The raiding team earns touch points for each defender tagged and successfully escaped past, while the defending team earns tackle points for stopping the raider. Additional points come from bonus line crossings, all-outs (eliminating all seven opponents), and PKL-specific rules like the Super Tackle. A standard match runs for 40 minutes — two halves of 20 minutes each — with a 5-minute halftime break.

The Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), launched in 2014, modernised the game significantly: raids were capped at a 30-second time limit, the Do-or-Die raid rule was introduced (after two consecutive empty raids, the raider must score on the third or be declared out), and the Super Tackle rule incentivises defending sides with fewer players. PKL is now the second most-watched sports league in India after the IPL, with over 435 million viewers in its inaugural season alone.