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When the Pro Kabaddi League made its debut on Indian television in the year 2014, nobody would have expected it to become the second-most followed sporting league in the country, after the Indian Premier League (IPL).
With every season, the league has managed to become bigger and better, and this time around with a change in the format of the tournament the organizers look to keep the momentum going.
The upcoming season, season 7, commences from the 20th of July with an exciting double-header between Telugu Titans and U Mumba at 7:30 pm IST, and Bengaluru Bulls and Patna Pirates at 8:30 pm IST.
The league has been simplified with the removal of the zonal and inter-zonal wildcard fixtures and has been made a round-robin format. After 132 matches spread over a period of almost three months, the top six teams would qualify for the playoffs stage.
The quick-paced, physical game of Kabaddi has taken the Indian sports by storm and made overnight crorepatis of young players. While most of us are aware of the players, not many of us know of the people working behind the scenes, ensuring that the teams get the right guidance and training to go all the wayy.
Here's a look at the owners and the coaches of the 12 teams of Pro Kabaddi 2019.
Bengal Warriors
Owners: Birthright Games & Entertainment Private Limited, in association with Akshay Kumar
Head coach: B.C. Ramesh
Coach Ramesh is an experienced coach from Karnataka with a prior experience of coaching in Pro Kabaddi League with a stint each with the Puneri Paltan as the head coach in season 5, and as an assistant coach to Randhir Singh at the Bengaluru Bulls in their trophy winning campaign in season 6.
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Bengaluru Bulls
Owner: WL LEAGUE PVT. LTD
Head Coach: Randhir Singh Sehrawat
Coach Randhir Singh has been heading the Bengaluru Bulls' coaching unit since the very first season of the Pro Kabaddi League, and after a succesful title-winning sixth season of the league, he would only look forward to carry the winning momentum forward with the side in the upcoming season.
Dabang Delhi K.C.
Owner: Mrs. Radha Kapoor Khanna
Head Coach: Krishan Kumar Hooda
After unleashing a raiding prodigy in the form of Naveen Kumar in season 6, all fans of Kabaddi are excited to see what Dabang Delhi's coach Krishan Kumar Hooda has up his sleeves for this season.
This season would be his second consecutive season with Delhi and the coach will hope to see his wards go further than just the eliminators this season.
Gujarat Fortunegiants
Owner: Adani Wilmar Ltd
Head Coach: Manpreet Singh
Assistant Coach: Neer Gulia
Manpreet Singh, a captain-raider of the title-winning Patna Pirates in Season 3, was asked to build a team from scratch and coach them in Season 5 of PKL. This started his association with the new team of Gujarat Fortunegiants.
His style of playing a young squad with an emphasis on teamwork rather than on individuals, led to the Fortunegiants reaching the finals in successive seasons. This time around Manpreet would have surely worked on his team's shortcomings to take them all way through to the title.
Haryana Steelers
Owner: JSW Sports
Head Coach: Rakesh Kumar
Rakesh Kumar is a legend of the game, with two World Cups and three Asian Games title under his name and he will now look forward to creating similar records through coaching his side, the Haryana Steelers.
He has been a part of the Pro Kabaddi League as a player from the inaugural season, where he was the costliest player at the auction until season five of the league.
Jaipur Pink Panthers
Owner: Abhishek Bachchan
Head Coach: L Srinivas Reddy
A former national level player and also a former coach of the senior national side, L Srinivas Reddy made his debut as a head coach in PKL in the previous season.
While his debut in PKL may not have been perfect as an injury-plagued Jaipur Pink Panthers failed to qualify for the playoffs, but with the learnings from the past seasons, it would be expected of the Pink Panthers to improve upon their performance under the tutelage of the experienced Reddy.
Patna Pirates
Owner: Rajesh V. Shah
Head Coach: Ram Mehar Singh
The Patna Pirates did not have a great season last time around as they finished fourth on the points table from 'Zone B' and failed to qualify for the playoffs.
However, with yet another season coming up, coach Singh would look forward to replicate his title-winning run in season 5 with the Patna Pirates, and bring home the Pirates' fourth trophy.
Puneri Paltan
Owner: Insurekot Sports Pvt. Ltd.
Head Coach: Anup Kumar
A legend of the game, former Indian captain Anup Kumar takes on a new role as the coach of the Puneri Paltan. While we see most coaches high on emotions, it would be interesting to see if 'Captain Cool' indeed transforms into a 'Cool Coach' with his bundles of experience.
Tamil Thalaivas
Owner: IQuest Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. & Blasters Sports Ventures Pvt. Ltd. (Sachin Tendulkar)
Head Coach: E Bhaskaran
The Tamil Thalaivas' management, yet again, puts their faith in former National coach, E Bhaskaran to take the Thalaivas on a succesful run in the upcoming season.
While coach Bhaskaran has already shown greater intent with his shrewd acquisitions at this year's auctions of the likes of Rahul Chaudhari, Mohit Chhillar, and Ran Singh, it is yet to be seen if the presence of veterans improves or hampers the Thalaivas' team spirit.
Telugu Titans
Owner: Srinivas Sreeramaneni - Veera Sports
Head Coach: Gholamreza Mazandarani
The only foreign coach in the league, Gholamreza Mazandarani brings in Iranian tactics and techniques to the Telugu Titans side.
If his previous stint with U Mumba is any indication, then his partnership with Siddharth Desai and Vishal Bhardwaj this season could lead to some top-flight kabaddi.
U Mumba
Owner: Ronnie Screwvala
Head Coach: Sanjeev Kumar Baliyan
Assistant coach: Upendra Kumar
The new coach of U Mumba, Sanjeev Kumar Baliyan isn't new to the Pro Kabaddi League, previously being at the helm of affairs at the Patna Pirates, where he led the young Pirates to their first-ever PKL title in season 3.
With U Mumba undergoing a similar transformation that has seen the franchise wear a young outlook for the upcoming season, coach Baliyan could be the right man to take U Mumba through the transistion succesfully.
U.P. Yoddha
Owner: GMR League games Pvt. Ltd
Head Coach: Jasveer Singh
Assistant Coach: Arjun Singh
Jasveer Singh has been handed over the reins of the U.P. Yoddha for a second consecutive season. After getting them through to the playoffs last season in a rather thrilling fashion, Jasveer Singh would want to do one better and win the trophy this time around.
Rishank Devadiga did seem burdened by the responsibility of captaincy in the previous season, and hence this season could see a new captain lead the Yoddha as well.
