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Japanese kabbadi takes life from City of Joy

In the late Mother Teresa's City of Joy, a young Japanese left behind a good job offer and mingled with policemen, railroad employees and street urchins with one mission -- to absorb the subcontinent's game of kabaddi.

In the Asian Games in Bangkok this week, Takeshi Kozu found himself facing the defending champion Indian national team, which beat Japan 59-25 on its way to a perfect record and another gold medal.

Japan came out with a victory and four losses, including a final-day 24-7 defeat today to Pakistan, which took the silver medal. Bangladesh won the bronze.

The 25-year-old Kozu, known in Japan as 'kabaddi-san,' using the Japanese honorific title, was introduced to the sport eight years ago when he was studying Indian traditional philosophy at Japan's Taisho university.

He became obsessed with the sport, which requires intense concentration, flexibility and breath control, and was selected to represent Japan at the 1994 Asiad in Hiroshima, Japan.

After Japan's 62-16 loss there to the gold medallist Indians, he said of the opponents, "Their speed, technique and moreover their eagerness for life were different from ours.''

Returning from Hiroshima, Kozu received an offer for a well-paid job with a Japanese company, but declined it and set out for Calcutta, the city that has produced many a top Indian kabaddi player, including captain Debasish Palit.

He enrolled at a language school to learn Bengali, and scouted out a chance to play on a kabaddi team made up of Calcutta policemen.

On his way back to his modest home in Calcutta after playing with policemen, Kozu would watch street urchins playing the sport, which needs no equipment, as players must be barefoot.

Kozu formerly practiced the Japanese combat sport of karate.

But, he said in a recent interview, karate competition is one-on-one. "In kabaddi, one player must challenge seven opponents by himself and that excites me a lot.''

AP