Cuttack, January 10: Telugu Yoddhas, the GMR owned franchise will face league toppers Chennai Quick Guns in the second semifinal of Ultimate Kho-Kho Season 2, making it a southern derby which will be played here at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Telugu Yoddhas ensured their place in the semifinals finishing the league in fourth place with 18 points winning six matches while the Chennai Quick Guns finished on top of the league with 25 points losing just one match.
The Yoddhas will be confident of being the only team to inflict a loss on the leaders in the league stages and will hope to put in a similar performance to make their place in the finals. The Yoddhas had entered the finals in the inaugural season losing the summit clash by a solitary point to Odisha Juggernauts.
The second semifinal between Telugu Yoddhas and Chennai Quick Guns will be played on 11th January, 2024 (Thursday) and the game will be telecast LIVE and exclusive on the Sony Sports Network and can be streamed LIVE on the SonyLIV platform from 8:30 PM onwards.
In the first meeting between both sides, Yoddhas beat Quick Guns 38-30 but suffered a defeat in the reverse fixture, going down 38-32.
Ahead of the match, Pratik Waikar, Captain, Telugu Yoddhas, said, “We are happy that we crossed the first hurdle of qualifying for the playoffs. Now we will focus on the semifinals against Chennai and hope that the team can come together to put their best foot forward to win and qualify for the finals. It is going to be a closely fought game and the team which can play well under pressure will come away with a positive result.”
In the ongoing season, the Yoddhas currently hold the second and third positions on the statistical charts for Team Attacking Points (296) & Team Total Points (330) respectively, while they stand as the only franchise to execute an All-out on their opponents on two occasions. Captain Pratik Waikar, an in-form All-rounder, has successfully been able to display his prowess by securing the number one spot in the Top Wazirs chart with a total of 52 Wazir points and the Total Pole Dives chart with 10 Pole Dives in the second season. He follows closely in the Top Attackers table, occupying the second position with 52 points. On the defensive front, Aditya Ganpule impressively spent a total of 19 minutes and 03 seconds on the mat in as many matches, securing the second-best defender position for the season. The 21-year-old Aditya has earned the Best Defender of the Match award on four occasions, which speaks volume about his impeccable performance.
