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The Puneri Paltan registered their first win of Pro Kabaddi season six with a 34-22 win over the Haryana Steelers in the first game today. The Steelers were without their star raider in Monu Goyat and were thus depleted and the Paltan took full advantage.
After a close opening 10 minutes where both defences dominated, the Paltan inflicted an All Out to establish a good lead and take control of the game.
Speaking after the game, the Paltan coach and captain were delighted with the comfortable win. Their coach Ashan Kumar said: "Winning and losing happens. Yesterday we tied the game and today we won. We discussed last night the small mistakes which we committed in yesterday's game and applied that today. That's what helped us beat the Haryana Steelers."
Pune's defence which their coach had criticized yesterday functioned much better today to keep the Steelers raiders in check. "Yesterday our suffering was because of the defence. So we planned accordingly and today you saw the raiders got the support from the defence", said Kumar.
While against U Mumba the raiding was mainly led by Nitin Tomar, GB More ably supported them today as he had six points to complement Nitin's seven.
Paltan skipper Girish Ernak had high praise for More saying: "GB More is fully fit this time. He is a very good player and he will show it this season. He can play many positions. Today he did some catching in defence as well along with raiding. He got points from three Do-or-Die raids. He is very important to the team."
Nitin Tomar who continued his impressive start said he's happy with the way he's started the season: "The coach has made us practice a lot of things. This time I have brought more speed to the court and in the touches, something which I have worked on with the coach. I'm also very happy with my game in general."
For the Haryana Steelers, a bad day got worse. Not only did they start without Monu Goyat, but Wazir Singh and captain Surender Nada suffered injuries during the game with the latter's injury looking very serious.
However, the Steelers could not be reached for any official word on the status of both Monu Goyat and their captain Surender Nada.
The Steelers next play only in their home leg which begins Friday. The Paltan also play on Friday next against Dabang Delhi.
