Name: Balwinder Singh Fidda
Born: 23 March 1956, Tandi, Kapurthala, Punjab
State: Punjab
Sport: Kabaddi
Early life
Balwinder Singh Fidda was born on 23 March 1956 in the village of Tandi in Punjab’s Kapurthala district, to Banta Singh, a farmer, and Charan Kaur. Growing up working on the family farm built the strength that later became his trademark on the kabaddi mat, and he started playing the game at the age of four in his own village. He went on to study at a college in Jalandhar, where he trained under the coach Sarwan Singh, and was drawn to the sport in part by watching two well-known players of the time, Pritam Singh Prita and Sarwan Singh Bal. Playing for Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, he helped his side to the all-India inter-university kabaddi championship, and his form soon carried him into the senior national set-up. Circle-style kabaddi, played outdoors on a round pitch rather than the rectangular mat used in the national style, was already a major draw at village fairs and Punjabi festivals, and a raider who could hold his breath and dodge defenders the way Fidda could was guaranteed a following well beyond the formal tournament circuit.
National and circle style
Fidda made his mark in both codes of the game played in India, the mat-based national style and the outdoor circle style more common in Punjab and among the diaspora. He played his first national-level tournament in 1973, representing Punjab schools at the Indore school national games, and won gold there, the first of many national titles to come. He went on to play in 18 National Kabaddi Championships between 1973 and 1991, and was named best player of the tournament ten times. In 1977 he was invited to play circle-style kabaddi in England, where his team won seven of its first eight matches with him raiding; his performances there were credited with lifting interest and investment in the English circuit, and clubs competed to sign him for their sides, and the fees on offer rose sharply as a result, changing how the England circuit itself was run. Within Indian kabaddi circles he became known by nicknames such as “Rustam-e-Kabaddi” and “Kabaddi da Betaaj Badshah”, the uncrowned king of kabaddi, and the sport’s administrators are said to have reworked some playing rules specifically to make his raiding harder to counter.
International career and police service
Representing the Punjab Police team, Fidda won 22 gold medals in the National All India Police Sports between 1977 and 1998. Internationally, he won gold in an exhibition kabaddi match at the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi, took gold as vice-captain of India at the first Asian Kabaddi Championship in Bombay in 1984, and captained India to gold at the 1989 South Asian Federation Games in Islamabad. He retired from competitive kabaddi in 1998 after more than two decades in the sport. Alongside his playing career he served in the Punjab Police, eventually reaching the rank of Superintendent of Police in Jalandhar, and in retirement he has coached young players and served as chairman of the All India Kabaddi Federation. He remains a well-known figure on the Punjab kabaddi circuit, where his raiding style from the 1970s and 1980s is still cited by coaches as a benchmark, and footage of his matches continues to circulate among fans of the sport decades after he last competed.
Achievements and awards
22 gold medals in the National All India Police Sports (1977-1998); gold at the first Asian Kabaddi Championship (1984); gold at the South Asian Federation Games as India captain (1989); best player of the National Kabaddi Championship on ten occasions; Arjuna Award (1999); Hari Singh Nalwa Award for contribution to Punjabi sport.
