Puneri Paltan

Puneri Paltan is an Indian Professional Kabaddi team which participates in the Pro Kabaddi League. The team is based upon the city of Pune, Maharashtra. Puneri Paltan plays their home matches in a stadium known as Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex which has capacity of around 4400 heads. It also provides a home to the Pune Pistons franchise in the Indian Badminton League (IBL).

Puneri Paltan came into being in the year 2014 with the inception of the Pro Kabaddi League and has been present ever since. The team’s coach is BC Ramesh who is an Arjuna Awardee himself. He was an integral part of the team that won gold at the 2002 Asian Games, 2006 Asian Games and the 2004 Kabaddi World Cup.

Background:

The Puneri Paltan Franchise is owned by the Insurekot Sports which is a very famous brand as far as this field is concerned. They invest heavily in sports activities and this was their first venture in Kabaddi. The Team's tagline is “Khel Badlega” which means that “the game will change”.

The trajectory in the PKL:

Puneri Paltan started their first campaign on a fairly low level, ending the PKL season 1 at the bottom. In the next season too, they were at the rock bottom of the table. The third season was their best in terms of performance until then, finishing 3rd in the group stages and qualifying in style for their first playoffs, before losing in the semifinals. In the fourth season too, they failed to make the finals and ended at the 3rd position.

In the 5th season of the league, the team showed many signs of improvement before losing in the Eliminators. The team stood second in the respective Zone, second only to Gujarat Fortune Giants.

Low points:

While the team has always been famous in the league for the firepower that they bring, their much-exposed defence is also not an aspect that is hidden. “Attacks wins you games but defence wins you titles”. Perhaps, that's the reason they are still in search of their first piece of silverware in the league.

With the arrival of a fresh defence line, the team looks set for the work at hand. The management has worked hard on this aspect and speculated that in great depth.

Team Players

Player Name	Country	Position
Abinesh Nadarajan	Indian	Defender - Right Cover
Balasaheb Shahaji Jadhav	Indian	Defender - Right Cover
Baldev Singh	Indian	Defender - Right Corner
E Subash	Indian	All-Rounder
Govind Gurjar	Indian	All-Rounder
Hadi Tajik	Irani	Defender -Right Corner
Karamvir	Indian	Defender - Left Corner
Mohit Goyat	Indian	Raider - Right
Nitin Tomar (C)	Indian	Raider
Pankaj Mohite	Indian	Raider
Pawan Kumar Kadian	Indian	Raider
Rahul Chaudhari	Indian	Raider
Sanket Sawant	Indian	Defender - Left Cover
Sombir	Indian	Defender
Sourav Kumar	Indian	Defender - Right Corner
Victor Onyango Obiero	Kenya	All-Rounder
Vishal Bhardwaj	Indian	Defender
Vishwas S	Indian	Raider

Major Players for the PKL 2021:

The experienced Nitin Tomar, Mohit Goyat and Baldev Singh will continue playing for the team this season as well. Apart from such a strong trio, Puneri Paltan also signed Sourav Kumar, Vishal Bhardwaj, Vishwas S and Victor Onyango Obiero.

Year	Season	Matches Played	Wins	Lost	Tie	Win %	Final Result
2014	1st	14	2	12	0	14.28	8th
2015	2nd	14	2	11	1	14.28	8th
2016(Jan)	3rd	16	8	5	3	50	3rd
2016(June)	4th	16	7	7	2	43.5	3rd
2017	5th	24	16	8	0	66.67	4th
2018	6th	22	8	12	2	36.36	6th
2019	7th	22	7	12	3	31.81818182	10th