Cricket, India’s biggest sport may be referred to as the “Gentleman’s” game but the same probably cannot be said about India’s homegrown sport, Kabaddi which involves a whole lot of body contact. However, ti certainly embodies the spirit of the nation.
Within the sport, though, there are certain individuals that are indirectly giving it a whole new identity as well. With their tall, strongly built frames which exude determination, dedication and a no-nonsense attitude, these five players make the for perfect police officers.
All talented kabaddi players in their own right, these five men have showcased their worth and have earned for themselves some prestigious posts with their respective state police departments.
#5 Mahendra Ganesh Rajput
The lanky raider who was picked up by the Gujarat Fortune Giants in the auction works in the Maharashtra Police as an officer. In the 32 matches that he played so far in the league, he has amassed a total of 103 points which include 95 raid points.
This time around, he will look to combine with Sukesh Hegde to lead the attacking charge for his team. Despite, kabaddi being such an energy sapping sport, Mahendra Rajput does not shy away from his official job and was quoted as saying earlier, “When I am not playing kabaddi, I perform my duties for the Maharashtra police.”
#4 Bajirao Hodage
He may have been a bargain pick for the Dabang Delhi side at the auctions where they shelled out 44.50 lakhs for the defender, but Bajirao is surely a man who will not look to bargain if one encounters him off the mat in his police uniform. Akin to his former Bengal Warrior teammate, Mahendra Rajput, Bajirao is also with the Maharashtra Police force.
Standing tall in the defence, Bajirao pins down the best of raiders down and expectedly so fits the frame for a police officer with quite some ease. The two Maharashtra police officers regularly practice with the state department’s team when they are not busy with Pro Kabaddi League and have won quite a few tournaments together as well.
#3 Sonu Narwal
Sonu Narwal was a part of the gold-medal winning Indian team at the 2010 Asian Games and that was the time when accolades and praises had started pouring in from all sectors for the Haryana raider. Subsequently, he was given the post of DSP with the Haryana police and the training required for the official job made him miss the first ever season of Pro Kabaddi League.
However, he made up for the lost time quite soon and announced himself on the big stage with his rampant raiding for the Jaipur Pink Panthers. However, if one asks Sonu what does he enjoy more, catching criminals or playing kabaddi, he says, “When I do my (Police) duty, then I enjoy catching criminals and when I play, then I enjoy the game. I can’t mix both the things. I am in the police under sports quota.”
#2 Ajay Thakur
Post a couple of bad outings in the PKL, the Kabaddi World Cup in October witnessed the re-birth of India’s star raider Ajay Thakur wherein he clinched the most amount of raid points to finish as the Best Raider of the tournament. This award was by far the biggest of all the prestigious accolades he had won so far, and he was subsequently rewarded handsomely by his state.
In a cabinet meeting in April, it was decided to appoint Thakur as the Deputy Superintendent of Police in Himachal. Going by his form from the World Cup and his recent official recruitment, Ajay is on a new high, and it remains to be seen whether the same will carry forward in the upcoming season of PKL.
#1 Anup Kumar
He is referred to as “Captain Cool” on the kabaddi mat but if one peeps a wee-bit on the man that Anup Kumar is, well you will certainly be in awe of the sports star. Anup has had a decorated career with the Indian team, winning the Asian Games, the South Asian Games and quite recently, the World Cup – all in the capacity of a skipper.
But, the rampant raider has one more side to him, the one in a khaki uniform, for he is also employed as a Deputy Commissioner of Police in Haryana. In these terms, he has sort of followed in his father, Ransingh Yadav’s footsteps who was a Subedar in the Indian Army. A perfect combination of strength and tactics, Anup makes for a perfect kabaddi player when on the mat, and a distinguished police office when off it.
