Pakistan’s Slap Kabaddi video goes viral as slap fight in India

The viral video shows a game called Slap Kabaddi and is from Pakistan, not India.

A video of an unusual sport showing a slap fight between two individuals is going viral on social media with the claim that it is from India. In the video, we can see two men slapping each other with the caption: Indian slap fights are a new trend that’s emerging on TikTok. The users who share the video come up with the idea that it happens in India.

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The same post was widely shared on Twitter as well with the caption “Move aside NPCs. Indian slap fights are a new trend that’s emerging on TikTok.

Fact Check-

A simple reverse image search on Google with the screenshot of the viral video brought us to a Wio news report. As per the report “this is actually a legit sport in Pakistan, a twisted version of the traditional sport of Kabbadi. The improvised version is called ‘Thappad’ or literally, Slap Kabaddi, which has captured the attention of sports enthusiasts in the country. This unique and weird improvisation of the game has rapidly gained immense popularity, with its videos spreading across the internet”.

Keeping this in mind, we conducted a key word search with the two names mentioned in the video. Eventually, that search led us to a YouTube channel Kabaddi da Nasha, which was uploaded on 16 February, 2023. The video shows a slap fight between two people from the viral video.

In further search, we found an explanatory video shared by India Times. This also describes that the slap kabaddi is a sport from Pakistan. The description of the video states “This is a legit sport in Pakistan, and it’s called Slap Kabaddi. The improvised sport obviously involves a lot of slapping. You can slap your opponent as many times as you want. The number of slaps is not an issue.”

Furthermore, we discovered a Facebook post  in which Haji Tassawur, a Pakistani Slap Kabaddi player, explains the rules of the sport during an interview with BBC. 

He said, “In Slap Kabaddi, two wrestlers must engage in a fight. The match is between two individuals. One player scores the point by hitting, while the other player defends to erase that point. Punches are fouls. You can slap your opponent as many times as you want, the number of slaps isn’t an issue.”

Traditional Indian sport Kabaddi is the oldest sport in the world, with a history of more than 4,000 years. Kabaddi is a game played between two teams on opposite halves of a field or court. Individual players take turns crossing onto the other team’s side, repeating “kabaddi, kabaddi” (or an alternate chant); points are scored by tagging as many opponents as possible without being caught or taking a breath before returning to one’s home territory.

Taking account of these evidences we can clearly understand that the viral video shows a game called slap kabaddi from Pakistan, which is entirely different from the kabaddi sport performed in India.

Conclusion-

Fact Crescendo has found the claim made along with the viral video to be False. The video shows a game called slap kabaddi and is from Pakistan, not India.