Former kabaddi player M.K. Sandhiya has been a match official in the ProKabaddi League for the second consecutive season now.
“They selected a fresh batch last year. I was picked from the selection in Chennai, attended a workshop in Mumbai and was initiated into the league,” says the 29-year-old who works as a physical education teacher in a school in Vellore.
She had been officiating in the all-India, south zone and State tournaments before the PKL.
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There are seven match officials for a PKL match. The referee, two umpires, two line umpires, and two assistant referees.
According to her, an official will be assigned for both matches on the day (there are single match-days as well).
“I’ll be told (that she’s going to officiate) roughly 45 minutes before the start of the first match. I’ll be assigned two different roles for the two matches.
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Imagining
“Once I get to know, I go on the mat and prepare — practising signals and coordination with the other officials. We imagine match situations and react to them.
“For instance, we’ll imagine that a raider has entered the lobby without a touch, and I will signal to the line umpire who has to make proper eye contact with me.”
She says there are two sets of match officials — groups A & B. Each group has 14 members, she added. “I belong to group-A. Each group is assigned six venues. This (Chennai) is our group’s third venue after Hyderabad and Patna. We’ll next go to Bengaluru, Pune and Panchkula.”
Two out of the nine women officials are from Tamil Nadu.
She says the officials need to keep fit throughout the season. “Morning gym workout is mandatory for us.”
They attend a camp for around eight days just before the league begins. “Besides fitness training, there is this workshop for practising signals, pronunciation, and voice modulation and clarity. Like, we practise pronouncing team names and how to talk in the match.
Tests
“For instance, saying things like ‘raider safe, one point to Gujarat Fortunegiants; or, defender out of bounds.’ We also take tests in which we’ll have to write how we’ll handle the given match situations.”
Kabaddi is a rapid, alternating game of small margins; errors in judgement dearly cost teams.
She says she finds a match official needs to have focus and observe very carefully. “The primary aim is to not make any mistake.”
She added that the match officials (all 14) attend a near-one-hour review meeting headed by the league’s technical director Prasad Rao in the morning after every match day.
Asked to name a greatly skilled player in the ongoing season, from a match official’s perspective, she said, “I would say Naveen (Kumar) of Dabang Delhi. He’s real quick and shrewd!”