The TV schedule of May 5, 1991 was suitably miscellaneous for the age. Sunday Grandstand offered up its melange — Badminton Horse Trials, motorcycling — followed by highlights of Harlequins’ extra-time win over Northampton in the Pilkington Cup final, and the World Snooker Championship final between John Parrott and Jimmy White.
Over on Channel 4, the “home of sporting exotica” that had housed NFL and hipster Grandstand in Trans World Sport, a new game took the place of sumo in the line-up. For half an hour at 6pm, it was Punjab versus West Bengal. Thirty-four years later, the British public can watch kabaddi in person.
A week-long World Cup begins in the West Midlands on Monday — the first time the event has been
