Vancouver Lions beat United Sings to record maiden win

Vancouver Lions

New Delhi, Aug 31 (IANS)

It took four games and a great fight-back in the last two quarters from Vancouver Lions to record their maiden win in the inaugural Wave World Kabaddi League while Yo Yo Tigers overcame California Eagles on Sunday.

Vancouver Lions beat United Singhs 57-53, in one of the closest matches of the league, to pick their first points and move up one place from the bottom of the table.

Gagandeep Singh Sabrawa was the main of the match as well as the Best Raider contributing 18 points to his team's kitty, while Sandeep Singh put up a valiant show for United Singhs with six stops.

United Singhs were narrowly ahead at 14-13 after the first quarter, but increased that to 29-24 at the midway stage, before the Vancouver Lions staged a remarkable comeback to snatch the lead at 40-39 at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.

The visitors from Canada then managed to nose ahead 57-53 by the end for a huge morale-boosting win.

The four-point difference also equalled the record for the smallest margin of four points - Yo Yo Tigers beat Royals Kings USA by a similar difference 58-54 last week at the same venue.

United Singhs, who have now lost two games and won as many, have four points, while Khalsa Warriors lead the table with eight points.

In the second match of the day, Manminder Singh was once again the star for Yo Yo Tigers who defeated California Eagles 59-50.

The team co-owned by singer Yo Yo Honey Singh had the upper hand throughout the match, as they opened an 18-11 lead in the first quarter and that increased to 32-25 by halftime.

In the third quarter, they pushed it to 44-37 before wrapping up the match at 59-50.

Manminder Singh, Angrez Singh, Sandeep Kumar were the star raiders for Yo Yo Tigers, while Harjeet Singh and Sukhpal Singh stood out for California Eagles.

The next set of matches will be played at the Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana Sep 6-7.