It is not tough being a West Indian in kabaddi

With a 65-year-old volleyball coach from Vijayawada as their guardian angel, an international rugby star for a captain, and a starry-eyed 24-year-old who yearns to be their Brian Lara, what could they be about?

With a 65-year-old volleyball coach from Vijayawada as their guardian angel, an international rugby star for a captain, and a starry-eyed 24-year-old who yearns to be their Brian Lara, what could they be about? You wouldn’t have guessed: A kabaddi team from the West Indies!

At a time when their more illustrious cousins lost the cricket one-day series 1-3 to India in Vadodara, these band of youngsters in maroon have just left Mumbai’s shores after taking part in their second 17-nation World Cup Kabaddi Championship in Panvel last week.

The team has gone back, leaving behind and taking with them wonderful memories.

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Runako Rodriguez from Trinidad and Tobago can’t stop smiling. The other day he was spotted picking up 10-year-old Vinay from the stands and giving him a huge hug.

“Kabaddi is very demanding on your flexibility — requires coordination and team-work. A player cannot be big and slow. He has to be focused. I love it.” And the professed love is not only words. He wants to promote the sport back home by forming an association. “I want to be the Brian Lara of kabaddi from Trinidad & Tobago.”

If the West Indies’ domination of world cricket in the late 70s and 80s — remember Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Alvin Kallicharan, Vivian Richards — is a thing of the past, it shows in the popular choice of youngsters there: More and more kids are taking to basketball with an eye on USA’s lucrative NBA league.

There are others, like 33-year-old Howard Stanton, also captain of the West Indian kabaddi squad, and Rodriguez who have taken to this sport.

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“I was invited to play in the World Cup. But the last time we didn’t have a good team,” says the man who has officiated at the Doha Asian Games. “This time the guys are physically stronger, bigger built, more athletic and good tacklers,” he adds.

But what about the 30-60 loss to Malaysia? “We were finding our feet in the first half as most of the guys are inexperienced. However, we were better in the second half.”

“Dronacharya recipient Prasad Rao was in the British Virgin Islands to promote the sport. He dragged me to kabaddi in 2003 after my retirement,” says the 65-year-old Surapeneni, a physical instructor and volleyball coach from Vijayawada, who had landed up in Jamaica in 1979 looking for a job.

“I formed an association with 25 players to start with. Now, we have introducing kabaddi in primary schools. Last year, the British Virgin Islands Olympic Committee recognised us. We are now eligible for government grants.