Pro Kabaddi: Comfortable opener for UP Yoddha as they beat Telugu Titans 31-18

IT WAS A COMFORTABLE win for debutants UP Yoddha as they defeated Telugu Titans 31-18 in the opening fixture of the season 5 of Pro Kabaddi League. 

Losing streak continued for the hosts as they failed to find the grip lost in the early minutes of the second half. It was a surprising move by Titans to rest Farhad Milaghardan and Nilesh Salunke, coming after a day’s break. UP skipper Nitin Tomar opened his team’s account in the first minute with a successful raid. 

Titans were leveling the game every time the visitors were breaking ahead. After 10 minutes into the game, scores were level at 6-6 as Rahul Chaudhari, Nitin Tomar and Rishank Devadiga looked in good form. Rakesh Kumar scored his first raid point in the 19th minute as Telugu Titans trailed 11-10. The first half ended with UP leading 12-11. Two unsuccessful raids out of three saw Mohsen substitute for Nilesh Salunke. 

Yoddha’s decision to bring Surender Singh in for Mahesh Goud worked wonders as he executed a Super Tackle in his opening raid and granted his side a 17-13 lead in the 27th minute. Rahul Chaudhari tried his best to turn the table, however, fell short during a do-or-die raid. In the 30th minute, UP inflicted the first all-out to lead 23-14. 

Titans couldn’t restrict the deficit below 7 points as Nitin Tomar raided in the 39th minute to pick 2 points and take the scores to 30-18. 

Telugu Titans Playing 7:

Rahul Chaudhari
Rakesh Kumar
Rohit Rana
Vikas
Sombir
Vishal Bharadwaj
Mohsen Maghsoudlou

Substitutes:

Farhad Milaghardan
Amit Singh Chhillar
Nilesh Salunke
Rakshith
Munish

UP Yoddha:

Nitin Tomar
Rajesh Narwal
Jeeva Kumar
Rishank Devadiga
Mahesh Goud
Nitesh Kumar
Pankaj

Substitutes:

Hadi Tajik
Surender Singh
Santosh B.S
Rohit Kumar
Sagar Krishna

Le Panga: 

Rahul Chaudhari: The Poster Boy of Kabaddi looked sharp right from the start. Having achieved the milestone of 500 points in the previous game, Rahul appeared to not take his feet off the pedal. The 24-year-old made 17 raids and earned 7 points in them. He tactically got a hand touches on UP’s star raiders Rishank Devadiga and Nitin Tomar to send the star duo to the bench. 

No Panga: 

Rakesh Kumar: The veteran all-rounder took to raid just once and was successful in it. However, was unsuccessful in four of his five tackles. The former India skipper was expected to step up and take responsibility every time Rahul Chaudhari was sent to the bench but instead delivered a subdued performance. 
 

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