As many as nine games were played at the Poornima University in Jaipur in the men’s category of the 67th Senior National Kabaddi Championship on Monday, and Services’ Naveen Kumar, who scored 16 raid points against Kerala C Direction, shone the brightest.
Contrary to Naveen Kumar’s show, Pardeep Narwal could only manage five points in the opening day, where the spectators were a bystander of five Super 10s as well as nine High 5s.
Let’s take a look at how it all went down
Rajasthan vs West Bengal (Pool G)
Rajasthan made West Bengal players look completely out of depth as the latter scored a paltry 11 points compared to Rajasthan’s 57, succumbing to a 46 point-loss. Brijendra Chaudhary was the star for Rajasthan with 14 points, 10 raid points and two bonuses and two tackle points. The likes of Kamal Kishor, Sachin and Pradeep also chipped in to add to West Bengal’s woes.
Gujarat vs Jharkhand (Pool A)
Pandya Kishankumar’s Super 10 led his team to score 39 points against Jharkhand who were restricted to a mere 10, half of which was scored by raider Rohit.
Services vs Kerala C Direction (Pool B)
Pro Kabaddi League starlet Naveen Kumar is back to the headlines with his massive 16 pointer display against Kerala. Services racked up 51 points while Kerala, despite Athul MS’ efforts fell 18 points short at 33. Athul scored 13 raid points but did not get the support to match the opponents.
Maharashtra vs Jammu & Kashmir (Pool C)
Puneri Paltan’s Pankaj Mohite led the charge for Maharashtra to a 47-24 victory against Jammu & Kashmir. Tushar Patil also put up an able supporting act with 9 points to his name. For J&K, Harshdeep Singh’s 11 points fell short as they lacked supporting raiders.
Haryana vs Tamil Nadu (Pool D)
Two of the richest states in terms of kabaddi battled out the closest encounter of the day where Haryana were downed by a 31-37 scoreline in a match of the defenders. Pardeep Narwal, after a dismal season in the PKL for Patna Pirates, failed to live up to the expectations on the day after he could manage only five raid points. His efforts were cut short by some brilliant Tamil Nadu defending comprising of M. Abhishek’s 6, E. Subhash’s 5 and Sajan C’s 4 tackle points.
Amit Sheoran also scored a High 5 but his efforts were not enough to see Haryana off the line.
Uttar Pradesh vs Vidarbha (Pool E)
Uttar Pradesh bagged the game against Vidarbha by a 40-point margin (55-15) as Rahul Chaudhari and Azad Singh scored eight and 10 points respectively. In the defence, Harendra Kumar starred with seven tackle points in just eight attempts to complete the all-round humiliation of Vidarbha.
Karnataka vs Madhya Pradesh (Pool F)
Veteran raider Sukesh Hegde scored eight points and Prathap S’ nine points helped Karnataka beat Madhya Pradesh by 42-27. Pavan TR’s six tackle points were countered by Saif Ali who grabbed seven tackle points but his side’s lack of raiding depth cost them the game.
Uttaranchal vs Orissa (Pool G)
Uttaranchal edged past Orissa in a 45-23 game where Sumit Kumar shone with nine points. The raiding expertise of Uttaranchal was clearly the deciding factor as Orissa went down quite easily.
Himachal Pradesh vs Manipur (Pool C)
Telugu Titan’s star defender Vishal Bhardwaj stole the show with seven tackle points and 3 raid points against Manipur. Surender Singh also bagged a High 5 while Ajay Thakur managed three raid points in 5 attempts. Himachal won the match by 52-23.
