
Have you ever had the chance to play kabaddi at the foothills of a limestone hill, said to be around 400 million years old? Or have you ever thought of playing kabaddi at the banks of a modern heritage site?
Situated at the the outskirts of the bustling city of Kuala Lumpur is the Batu Caves, classified as a heritage site by the Malaysian National Heritage Department.
Players from the Batu Caves Tamilan Kabaddi Club took the opportunity to highlight kabaddi’s age old history at the foothills of the Batu Caves Temple in conjunction with the World Heritage day.
Close to 8,000 kilometers away the national Egyptian players were playing at the banks of the Suez Canal, a modern marvel completed more than 150 years ago.
World Heritage Day is observed every year on April 18 to preserve the human heritage and recognize the efforts of the organizations working for it.
The day is celebrated to maintain the legacy and save the rich heritage which has been given to us by our ancestors.
World Kabaddi sees the correlation between the age old sport of kabaddi and the World Heritage Day celebrations.
Kabaddi is said to have been invented close to 5,000 years ago and is currently played in more than 50 countries around the world.
What better way than to celebrate this great event by showcasing this sport at world heritage locations around the world.
Situated at the Batu Caves, is the iconic Sri Mahamariamman Temple, which has been hosting the largest Thaipusam festival in the world since 1892.
Rising almost 100 m above the ground, the Batu Caves temple complex consists of three main caves and a few smaller ones. The biggest, referred to as Cathedral Cave or Temple Cave, has a very high ceiling and features ornate Hindu shrines. To reach it, visitors must climb a steep flight of 272 steps.
The Batu Cave hill and its numerous caverns contain a wealth of plants and animals, many of which are specialised for limestone environments. A total of 269 species of vascular plants have been recorded from the site, including 56 species (21%) which are obligate calciphiles (found only on limestone).
There are various undeveloped caves which contain a diverse range of cave fauna, including some unique species, such as trapdoor spiders. The caves have some 21 species of bats, including several species of fruit bats.
The site is also well known for its numerous long tailed macaques, which visitors feed — sometimes involuntarily..
Below the Temple Cave is the Dark Cave, with rock formations and a number of animals found nowhere else. It is a two-kilometer network of relatively untouched caverns. Stalactites jutting from the cave’s ceiling and stalagmites rising from the floor form intricate formations such as cave curtains, flowstones, cave pearls and scallops which took thousands of years to form. In order to maintain the cave’s ecology, access is restricted.
Attention of the world was recently on the Suez Canal, after the cargo ship Evergreen was stranded in the canal, blocking much of the world shipping trade.
The Suez Canal or in Arabic Qanātu s-Suways is an artificial sea-level waterwway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia.
Construction of the canal lasted from 1859 to 1869 and took place under the regional authority of the Ottoman Empire.
The canal itself is seen as an extension of smaller canals that were built as early as the second millennium BC.
The legendary Sesostris (likely either Pharoah Senusret II or Senusret III of the Twelfth dynasty of Egypt is believed to have started work on an ancient canal, the Canal of the Pharoahs, joining the Nile and the Red Sea, when an irrigation channel was constructed around BC1848 that was navigable during the flood season, leading into a dry river valley east of the Nile River Delta named Wadi Tumilat.
World Kabaddi members are encouraged take photos and videos at heritage locations in their own countries to celebrate the World Heritage Day.
Sent us the videos, Photographs and a brief about the location, and we will feature the same in our website and social media platform.