Kabaddi rules, for watching
Start with how a match works. Then the rules you see every few minutes, then the ones that change results.
Settling an argument? Search all 21 rules
- What do the lines on a kabaddi court mean?
- How many players are in a kabaddi team?
- How long is a kabaddi match?
- What is a raid in kabaddi, and why does the raider keep saying "kabaddi"?
- How do you score points in kabaddi?
- What happens to a kabaddi player who is out?
- What is the baulk line in kabaddi?
- How does a raider get a bonus point in kabaddi?
- What counts as a touch in kabaddi?
- How do defenders get a raider out in kabaddi?
- What happens if a kabaddi player steps outside the court?
- What is a do-or-die raid in kabaddi?
- What is an all out in kabaddi?
- Can a defender chase the raider back across the mid line in kabaddi?
- What is a technical point in kabaddi?
- What tackles are illegal in kabaddi?
- What do the green, yellow and red cards mean in kabaddi?
- How many time-outs and substitutions does a kabaddi team get?
- What happens if a kabaddi match ends in a tie?
- How are kabaddi league tables decided?
- Who are the officials in a kabaddi match?
Where these rules come from
| Tag | Document |
|---|---|
| IKF Rule plus number, Technical Officials plus paragraph, Signals, measurement chart | Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India, Rules and Regulations of All Forms of Kabaddi, version 2.1.0, which sets out the International Kabaddi Federation rules ("downloaded 8 November 2017", with a correction page of that date). Read for this set: the standard rules in full (Rules 1 to 66, the field measurement chart and the court diagram, book pages 1 to 15), the Technical Officials chapter (pages 45 to 48) and the first page of signals (page 49) |
| R | "Why the rule exists", or a point reasoned from the rule, not stated in it |
| C | Common usage or general knowledge, not a rule. Every statement about the Pro Kabaddi League is C |
All checked on 14 October 2026.
The book is from 2017. No newer AKFI or IKF rule book is saved. Everything here should be checked against a current rule book before it is published.
Standard kabaddi only. The same book has chapters on indoor, beach and circle style kabaddi. They were not read in full and have no pages here. Say if any of them should be a sub-type; the folder would then become kabaddi/standard/ and so on.
The Pro Kabaddi League is not covered. The league publishes no written rule book that could be saved, and its rules differ in places (the super tackle, the tie-break, review). Most readers in India know kabaddi through the league, so this is the largest gap in the set. The pages mention the league only in C rows.
Pronouns. The rule book says "he" throughout. The pages say "they".