Panchkula: UP Yoddhas, the franchise owned by the GMR Group, narrowly went down to Puneri Paltans with a score of 38-40 in their last match of Pro Kabaddi League Season 10, held at Tau Devilal Indoor Stadium, Panchkula. Playing their final match of the ongoing season, UP Yoddhas had a great start, but a few unforced errors resulted in a slender margin loss. Nonetheless, they ensured their last game was full of action and thrill for their fans. The standout player of the season for the Yoddhas, Gagan Gowda’s heroics earned him 16 points, the highest from the game, while Mahipal scored six points for UP Yoddhas. With four victories and 31 points, UP Yoddhas concluded their season’s campaign in eleventh position in the league standings
UP Yoddhas were allowed to raid first by Puneri Paltans, and Gagan Gowda drew first blood of the game by acrobatically escaping the ankle hold of Iranian Shadouli. Gagan scored another point for his side in the same minute, executing yet another escape from the opponent’s ankle hold. The Yoddhas’ standout player and find of the season, young Gagan, proved unstoppable tonight when he inflicted a three-pointer Super Raid, leading his team in the score charts with a 5-1 score by the third minute of the game. Riding on the back of Gagan’s quick raid points, Yoddhas successfully inflicted the first All-Out of the night in the 8th minute of the game and raced ahead with a scorecard of 12-7 in their favor. The Yoddhas continued their dominance throughout and pushed the Paltans back in the next few minutes. Gowda hogged all the limelight in the first half with his excellence, showcasing another remarkable raid where he scored 5 points. This included three raid points and two All-Out points as Yoddhas forced the second All-Out on the Paltans. Gagan’s scintillating performance, earning 13 points by halftime, helped his side conclude the first half with a score of 28-15 in their favor.
UP Yoddhas started the second half on a slow note as they couldn’t carry forward the momentum gained in the previous half. Unforced errors by the Yoddhas allowed their opponents not only to stage a comeback in the game but also to inflict their first All-Out on UP, narrowing the gap as the score read 30-25 still in Yoddhas’ favor by the first five minutes of the second half. Thereafter, the Paltans kept scoring points, and a few minutes later, they forced another All-Out on their opponents, taking the lead for the first time in the game as the scorecard now read 35-34 in Puneri’s favor.
The game turned out to be an action-packed and a tight contest in the last few minutes where Gagan’s two-point raid kept the hopes alive for his side, but Puneri Paltan ensured to walk away with a narrow two-point victory, with the score ending at 40-38 in their favor.
