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What's the story?
The seventh edition of the VIVO Pro Kabaddi League is all set to commence on Saturday, 20th July 2019 featuring a total of 12 teams and is expected to follow a similar template to the previous edition of the league.
In case you didn't know...
The Pro Kabaddi League, a brainchild of Mashal Sports Pvt. Ltd, has been instrumental in the meteoric rise of the sport in India. Having been contested for six seasons now, the league has given rise to a host of exciting Indian talent and has given a platform for youngsters to exhibit some of their best skill and rub shoulders with big names from the sport.
The Patna Pirates are the most successful team having won three consecutive titles while the Jaipur Pink Panthers, U Mumba have one title from season 1 and 2 respectively. The Bengaluru Bulls are the defending champions from season six.
The heart of the matter
One of the most viewed sports league all across India, the PKL has revolutionized the sport of kabaddi and has paved way for a number of rural and urban players to pursue a career in the field of kabaddi.
Monu Goyat, the raider from Services broke the record for the highest contract in the league when he was procured for a sum of ₹1.51 Crore by the Haryana Steelers prior to season six, which made him the highest paid non-cricket athlete in India. Other big names such as Pardeep Narwal, Rahul Chaudhari, Ajay Thakur amongst others have also earned a massive status for their performances on the mat.
In the season seven auctions, Siddharth Desai, U Mumba's star raider earned the biggest paycheck as his services were procured by the Telugu Titans for ₹1.45 crore while Pune's ₹1.20 crore bid for Nitin Tomar was the only other bid that crossed the ₹1 crore mark.
Anupam Goswami, CEO, Mashal Sports Pvt. Ltd and League Commissioner, VIVO Pro Kabaddi was quoted saying, “India’s biggest kabaddi league is all set for a milestone season VII, as it returns to the July – October window in the country’s annual sports calendar," as he added, "To improve the overall experience for spectators and television viewers, PKL season VII will commence each of its city-legs on Saturdays and matches will begin at 7:30 pm throughout".
"We take pride in the way all our stakeholders and partners, particularly PKL franchises and the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India, are collectively engaged in making kabaddi a major front ranking sport in India,” he mentioned, emphasizing the Pro Kabaddi League's influence on bringing kabaddi to the masses.
What's next?
At the back of an exciting auction in April that saw a number of players swapping teams and a couple of massive bids for young talent, the Pro Kabaddi League season seven promises to be yet another much-awaited prospect for kabaddi fans across the world.
