Bengaluru: UP Yoddhas – GMR group owned franchisee, is all set to face Jaipur Pink Panthers in their opening game of the 9th edition of the Pro Kabaddi League. UP Yoddhas who kick-off their season this year with a new Logo depicting India’s greatest mythological warrior with his bow and arrow setting his aim on the target in a confluence of blue, orange and red colours. While the arrow represents accuracy and speed, the bow stands for intellect and strategy, all with the objective of driving towards the twin GMR peaks that has strived to conquer by maximising human potential and with a purpose of maximising growth.
The opening night of the 9th edition of the Pro Kabaddi League will be a triple header which will see UP Yoddhas take the mat in the third and final game of the night. The match between UP Yoddhas and Jaipur Pink Panthers will be broadcasted LIVE on StarSports Network & can be streamed LIVE on Disney Hotstar, 9:30 PM (IST) onwards, Friday, October 7, 2022.
The eighth season of the Pro Kabaddi League, that was held behind closed doors, due to the devastating Corona Virus pandemic, that shook the whole world for nearly two years, will now return with its doors open for fans in its ninth season.
UP Yoddhas in their last encounter against Jaipur Pink Panthers in Season 8 returned with a 41-34 win with Pardeep Narwal & Surender Gill spearheading the attack as they ended collecting a total of 23 points together. This game saw Ashu Singh & All Rounder, Gurdeep, setup a formidable defensive wall for the team under the able leadership of their Captain Nitesh Kumar. UP Yoddhas have defeated Jaipur Pink Panthers 4 times from seven encounters so far till Season 8.
Ahead of the match, Jasveer Singh, Head Coach, UP Yoddhas said, “We are looking forward to Season 9 of the Pro Kabaddi League and to know that now we will have our fans supporting us from the stands, has added a different energy into our blood. The team has spent a good amount of time training together and we cannot wait to take the mat against Jaipur Pink Panthers in our opening encounter.”
Captain and top defender for UP Yoddhas Nitesh Kumar will have the responsibility of keeping the defensive unit intact on his shoulders along with able support from Ashu Singh from the right, and Shubham Kumar and Sumit from the left. Speaking ahead of their first encounter against Jaipur Pink Panthers, Nitesh said, “We are looking forward to our season opening encounter against Jaipur Panthers. Along with the return of the Pro Kabaddi League this year, what makes this special is that we will get to have our fans supporting us from the stands after a long time. We as a team have trained hard in the pre-season and we are looking forward to giving in our best on the mat for our team, our management and most importantly our fans.”
Pardeep Narwal, also known as Dubki King and one of the most successful raider’s in the history of PKL will take the charge of raiding department along with Surender Gill who impressed everyone with his stellar performance throughout the season last year. Iranian raider Mohammad Taghi along with Kenyan raider James Kamwetti will add the much-needed impact to the raiding department for UP Yoddhas. Srikant Jadhav, Nitin Panwar and Gulveer Singh will be some other players to be watched out for given their noticeable performances last season.
UP Yoddhas finished their last season at the third place with 68 points from 22 games. Season 8 saw UP Yoddhas emerge as a strong attacking team with a total of 1015 Team Raid Points, the highest by any team. The only other team to cross the 1000-point mark last season were Patna Pirates. UP Yoddhas were also at the top of the Team Super Tackles with 27 Super Tackles to their name, along with the highest number of Super Raids at 22. UP Yoddhas were also the only team to have more than 20 Super Raids to their name in the entire season.
