Lilley insisted that the major-injury toll was low, which is hard to believe considering the sport’s contortionist bent and high-impact landings.

“I’ve seen some knee injuries, but nowhere near what you’d expect,” Lilley said. “These guys and women are so well trained and spend so much time stretching — literally two to three hours a day of stretching exercises. And you hardly see a player in the sport who weighs in at more than 150 pounds. It’s mainly the Asian build that is good for the sport, although you do have German players now and the U.S.A. playing with homegrown players as well, people with slightly different builds. But whatever the build, you have to be incredibly flexible and light on your feet.”

Breath control is the essential skill for success in kabaddi, a game with ancient roots in which teams take turns sending a raider across midcourt who, on a single breath, tries to tag a member of the opposing team and return safely to his team’s half of the court before taking another breath. To prove to officials that he or she is not inhaling, the raider must chant “kabaddi, kabaddi” throughout the attack. The best players can do it for several minutes.