HE flew half way around the world for one game, he has his own fan club and was followed around by a posse of autograph hunters...when it comes to the tough world of kabaddi, Iftikhar Ahmed is just like David Beckham!

The international star of the rough-and-tumble game jetted into Blackburn's Witton Park to up the stakes in a fierce contest between Birmingham and a side combining Blackburn and Manchester players.

The Blackburn side were boosted by Iftikhar, 30, a Pakistan professional who has competed for 12 years and won gold medals in the sport.

Fellow pro Javid Akhatar, 31 was also in their side.

But, unlike David Beckham, Iftikhar could not swing the game and they still lost 20-13.

Kabaddi is like a much more aggressive version of the children's game bulldogs -- or rugby without the ball -- in that players have to get from one end of the pitch to the other while their opponents try to stop them. If a player gets to the other side they score a point but if they are stopped the other team scores.

The game is physically exhausting as well as dangerous and the top professionals, such as Iftikhar, train for three hours each day to keep themselves in peak condition.

He said: "The training is hard but we have to be strong and agile so I do a lot of running as well as press ups for good upper body strength."

In Pakistan kabaddi is seen as the national sport with Iftikhar as the game's answer to David Beckham.

He said: "It is a different game to football but in Pakistan and India it is seen as being on the same level as professional football in England. "We travel all over and although the main season is during the summer we play all of the time in Pakistan.

"And like the English football teams we have fan clubs and groups of fans who do follow us around."

One of those fans, and an amateur player of the sport, is Imran 'Manny' Ahmed, of Blackburn.

He met the professionals for the first time at yesterday's event.

Imran has competed on and off for two years after following his brother Jangeer Ahmed into the game but has suffered several injuries including a current groin strain.

He said: "It is a really big game and these are really big stars -- physically and in celebrity status -- but it is a full contact sport which can be really aggressive.

"It has been exciting meeting the stars and seeing them in action."

The celebrities also enjoyed their day at the 30th annual kabaddi Association Cup saying that Blackburn was a beautiful place which they loved to visit.