U MUMBA, the Pro Kabaddi League’s Mumbai franchise owned by U Sports today announced the College Edition of its grassroots kabaddi programme, Future Stars to be held across local colleges of Mumbai during March.
Eight groups containing 4 teams each will fight it out in the group stages with the top team in each group qualifying for the Knock-Out stage. Taking place over a period of 4 weekends in March, the league stage commences on 11th March, with the finals slotted for the weekend of the 25th, under the watchful eye of Coach Bhaskaran and Captain Cool, Anup Kumar. The qualifying round games of the tournament will be held at Mumbai University Grounds, Nariman Point between 11AM – 8PM. The knock-out stage (25th and 26thMarch’2017) will take place at Mumbai University Grounds, Kalina.
Schedule:
Qualifying Stage: 10th, 11th, 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th March, 2017
Quarter-Finals: 25th March, 2017
Semi-Finals and Final: 26th March, 2017
U Mumba Future Stars 2017 is presented by Honda CB Hornet 160R, in association with Enerzal, and is supported by the Mumbai Kabaddi Association, Mumbai University and the Pro Kabaddi League. The tournament will feature Mumbai’s top-32 colleges that will be participating in a round-robin league format.
In addition to the Winner’s Trophy, the participants will be contesting for the opportunity to be selected as the ‘Future Star of the Tournament’ and get the opportunity to train with the U Mumba pro-team, prior to the start of the next season of Pro Kabaddi League. The ‘Future Star of the Tournament’ will also be presented with a Honda CB Hornet 160R bike.
U Mumba Head Coach E. Bhaskaran and Captain Anup Kumar will also be present on the final weekend, to ensure only the best talent gets selected for this very prestigious opportunity.
Commenting on the Future Stars 2017 edition, U Sports CEO Supratik Sen said,
“The aim is to build the sport ground-up. The youth form the most integral part in the development of Kabaddi. We want to ensure we constantly have a pipeline of talented youngsters, who may eventually find a place on our first team. Currently, the competition is focused to Mumbai, but we soon will execute our plans for this program to be implemented across the state.”
Speaking on the association with U Mumba for the Honda CB Hornet 160R U Mumba Future Stars, Mr. Yadvinder Singh Guleria – Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. said,
“U Mumba is one of the leading Pro Kabaddi teams. Honda 2Wheelers is No. 1 brand in Mumbai as well as Maharashtra and we are thrilled to partner with U Mumba in scouting for the next big Kabaddi talent from Mumbai. Kabaddi is a passionate sport which celebrates strength and real performance. Honda’s CB Hornet 160R perfectly embodies this spirit of Raw. Real. Ripped in today’s youngsters.”
Enerzal, who have been associated with the team since season 2 of Pro Kabaddi League, have now also partnered with the team in their grassroots Kabaddi initiative. FDC India’s spokesperson said,
“We at Enerzal believe that a healthier India is a stronger India and sport is the best way to inculcate a culture of health and fitness. Enerzal has been ever present in Kabaddi’s tremendous growth journey as partners to U Mumba from season 2 to season 4 of the PKL as well as other national kabaddi initiatives. We are committed to ensuring that the sport grows at all levels and the next logical extension is grassroots development. We are proud to partner with U Mumba on this initiative and we shall be ensuring that the players are always efficiently hydrated.”