Shankarrao 'Buwa' Salvi: The man behind the unification of Kabaddi

Mumbai, Feb 17 (UNI) Shankarrao 'Buwa' Salvi, known as the doyen of kabaddi in Maharashtra, who passed away at the age of 75 here on Thursday, was the catalyst behind the unification of the game.

A widower with no children, ''Buwa'', as he was affectionetly called, had devoted his life to the game in the state and was also the life president of the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India.

He was responsible for the unification of the game of ''hu tu tu'' which had nine players and the international seven-player sport of kabaddi in Maharashtra when traditionalists wanted the former game to remain a separate entity.

In fact the supporters of ''hu tu tu'' did not agree to join hands with the kabaddi body till Salvi toured the state and used his skills as an orator to bring about the reapprochement even after the southern states had accepted the word, largely used in the north of the country, to specify the sport.

Salvi, who was general secretary of the state body until his death, was like a father figure of the sport not only in the state but also in the country and one of the main forces behind the spread of kabaddi outside India. He helped widen its reach by organising tours to countries like Bangladesh and Japan in the 1970s.

Those tours helped in subsequently gaining the sport a berth in Asian Games in 1990 at Beijing and continued to fetch India the gold in the continental quadrennial multi-sport event over the next five editions.

Salvi joined forces with political heavyweights Yeshwantrao Chavan, Mohan Dharia and Sharad Pawar, whose nephew Ajit is the president of the state association at present, to spread the game in the country.

Salvi before his death had the good fortune of seeing the game spread so much that two World Cup kabaddi events have been held so far, both in India.

UNI