Pro Kabaddi: Puneri Paltan edge past Bengal Warriors to clinch third spot
Led by the all-round performance of Deepak Niwas Hooda and skipper Manjeet Chhillar, Puneri Paltan defeated Bengal Warriors 31-27 to claim the third spot in the Pro Kabaddi League. After leading the first half 15-8, Pune fought off a late comeback from Bengal to seal the third spot in the playoff.
Starting Seven:
Puneri Paltans: Jasmer Singh, Manjeet Chhillar, Surjeet, Ravi Kumar, Surendra Singh, Deepak Niwas Hooda, Ajay Thakur
Bengal Warriors: Vineeth Sharma, Nilesh Shinde, Bajirao
After receiving a thrashing from U Mumba in the semi-final, Bengal Warriors went into the third place playoff against Puneri Paltan with a much-changed side, which saw the arrival of Narendra Kumar, Mahendra Rajput and Narendra Kumar into the starting seven.
On the other hand, Puneri Paltan kept faith on the same team that started against Patna Pirates in the semi-final. Pune banked on the experience of skipper Manjeet Chhillar and Deepak Niwas Hooda in a bid to clinch the third spot.
After two empty raids from each side, Mahendra Rajput lit up the game by earning the first point of the match for Bengal Warriors. The lanky
Pune had to wait for almost eight minutes to score their first point of the match and skipper Manjeet Chhillar delivered for his team with a brilliant thigh hold on Jang Kun Lee to earn them two points. With both sides banking on defence and do or die raids, the match seemed extremely close
(Read about Patna Pirates' brilliant victory over U Mumba to lift the 2016 Pro Kabaddi League title)
However, Jang-Kun Lee’s mistake on a do or die raid opened a door for Pune to enforce the first all-out of the match and the team from Maharashtra took it with both hands to race to an 11-7 lead. With Manjeet Chhillar in defence and Deepak Niwas Hooda in attack standing tall, Pune ended the first half with a 15-8 lead. Out of the 23 points scored in the first twenty minutes, only nine points were scored by raiders – six from Pune and three from Bengal.
Similar to the first half, the final twenty minutes also started with a series of empty raids. With only three players on the mat for Bengal Warriors, Deepak Niwas Hooda went in search of a touch but found Bengal skipper Nilesh Shinde pushing him out of the playing area to earn two tackle points. Jang-Kun Lee increased the problems for Pune with his next raid by sending back Pune skipper Manjeet Chhillar to mount a comeback into the match.
However, Deepak Niwas Hooda, who scored three raid points in the first half added three more in the first seven minutes of the second half to enforce the second all-out of Bengal Warriors. But Jang-Kun Lee turned the game on its head by scoring six points to shock Pune, who were comfortably strolling towards a victory. The Korean used a toe touch to complete the formalities to enforce the first all-out of Pune in the match. With the scores at 25-22 in favour of Pune, the match looked too close to call, but Deepak Niwas Hooda touched Nilesh Shinde and Vineeth Sharma to increase Pune’s lead to five points. Pune held their nerves and stopped Bengal Warriors from earning more points to win the match 31-27 and claim the third spot.
(Read about the history of Kabaddi - The Rise of an Ancient Sport- Kabaddi)
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