From PKL midline to sands of Diu: Ajit Kumar’s new chapter at Khelo India Beach Games

To the regular viewer of Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), Ajit Kumar’s face is one they will almost certainly be familiar with. He has established himself as a staple in the league, serving as a match official and adjudicating on some of the most high-pressure moments in the tournament. 

For the next five days, however, he will find himself stepping away from the midline and into a new role – Competition Manager of Beach Kabaddi at the Khelo India Beach Games here on Ghoghla Beach. 

While this is his first time in the role at the Khelo India Beach Games, it builds on his long-standing involvement with both the Khelo India initiative and beach kabaddi. “I was the Competition Manager at the first Khelo India Youth Games in New Delhi in 2018, and it is the first time I have done the role at the Beach Games, although I have been refereeing and conducting in other beach kabaddi nationals tournaments,” he said. 

Though the meat and bones of beach kabaddi are similar to regular kabaddi (indeed a few PKL players will be in action in Diu), there are several critical distinctions between the two that Kumar drew attention to. 

“There’s a big difference between normal kabaddi and beach kabaddi,” he explained. “Beach kabaddi is not that easy. In beach kabaddi, every raid is a Do-or-Die Raid, you cannot have an empty raid. The other thing is that on the sand, players can’t generate power. On a mat, you can generate power, but if a raider gets tackled on sand, they’re stuck right there. So you need plenty of courage and strength to play the game.”

Beach kabaddi players in action at the Khelo India Beach Games 2026 on Ghoghla Beach in Diu.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

The absence of empty raids is one of numerous format changes that Kumar’s officials will have to contend with over the week. Beach kabaddi uses different rules to the ones that are generally used in PKL and other national tournaments. Lobbies, bonus points and the baulk line, and a Do-or-Die Raid every three raids are all game rules absent from the beach version of the sport. 

Kumar says dealing with this difference is a matter of preparation for officials. “There are different categories for normal kabaddi (junior, sub-junior, senior), but beach kabaddi has only one category and relatively few matches. It’s a part of our kabaddi though, so our referees officiate these matches. 

The only challenge is that there are relatively few chances to referee beach kabaddi matches, so you have to do a little bit of preparation before you do.”  

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Kumar – who hails from Delhi – entered kabaddi through his uncle, who was an Asian gold medallist. He played the game himself through school and college, and though he was ultimately forced to turn his back on a playing career, he couldn’t quite bring himself to leave the game entirely. 

Enter refereeing. 

“Sometimes those who play the game, but grow a little distant from the game. Technical officials can stay with the game right till the end,” he explains. 

Things have jumped to a different level since the advent of PKL though. “I have to thank Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) and Pro Kabaddi League,” he said. “Kabaddi has become so big that I don’t even need to say that I’m a kabaddi official anymore, people recognise me.

When I started as an official, I didn’t have any role models, and I didn’t have many opportunities to prove myself. But for the coming generation, there are plenty of matches to watch and officiate, to prove themselves. So just as players are role models, technical officials have also role models.”  

Will the urge to referee come to him again over the next week? “I love kabaddi, and I love refereeing matches, but I’ve prepared my mind to say  ‘karana hai, karna nahi’. I’m going to give my experience to the technical officials under me, because there’s a different fun in doing both.”

Published on Jan 06, 2026