Olympic Channel, Talksport and Paddy Power also streaming tournament that launched this week
The BBC is streaming the Kabaddi World Cup for viewers in the UK.
The tournament is being held at arenas across the Midlands from 17-23 March - the first time that it has been held outside of India. This comes as the sport is looking to grow beyond its south Asian base, with officials telling reporters in the build up to the competition that they hope to launch leagues in Europe and East Africa.
The BBC is streaming all matches live on iPlayer, and other international broadcasters include Willow TV in the US and the Olympic Channel globally. The World Cup will also be available through Talksport and Paddy Power’s channels - with the latter sponsoring the event.
The BBC has previously covered the British Kabaddi League, and its CEO Prem Singh told a media roundtable before the event, “We have a wonderful relationship with BBC. In fact, they were one of the major organisations that backed us when we did the British Kabaddi League, and without them we wouldn’t have had the exposure and there would be no World Cup [here] because we would not be in the right place.”
Social media is also being used extensively, with Joel Lavery, West Midlands Growth Company strategic lead for sporting events, adding, “We’re going to be pushing a lot of the edited highlights through social media, because that’s how we’re going to expand the reach to a much younger and more diverse audience who are accessing the sport on mobile and handheld technology. It’s a core part of our strategy to amplify the impact of the World Cup through social media as well as mainstream TV.”
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