Karnataka eye strong show

Shabeer, Usharani to lead State at the National Championships

The excitement and thrill generated by the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) is still fresh in the minds of the Bengalureans as the city gears up to host another fiesta in an altogether different setting.

The 63rd Senior National Kabaddi Championships, beginning at the Malleswaram grounds on Tuesday, might not have the buzz of the recently-launched event but the fans of the sport are certain to embrace an action-packed week despite the wet weather.

Bengaluru has always seen a keen participation in kabbadi but the sport seemed to have lost its charm a bit in recent times. The arrival of PKL has provided a timely boost, pitch-forking a clutch of players into limelight.

The likes of Manjeet Chillar (Indian Railways), Ajay Thakur (Himachal Pradesh), Anup Kumar (Delhi) and Kashiling Adake (Maharashtra) are now household names, thanks to the reach that PKL provided through television. They face an altogether different challenge in vastly different conditions.

Services, the defending champions in the men’s category, will be looking to reinforce their position as a kabaddi powerhouse while Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Karnataka are prominent among the challenging bunch.

The Karnataka men’s side will be led by Shabeer Bapu and will include prominent PKL stars like Sukesh Hegde, Prashanth Rai, Rajaguru and Jeeva Kumar.

Defender Kumar, who represents U Mumba in the PKL, said the Nationals will be an ideal preparation for the forthcoming international tournaments. “There is a certain amount of pressure since its our homeground but the exposure we have received from the PKL will aide us,” he said.

Railways are the defending champions in the women’s section but the Karnataka team, spearheded by Usharani, will have the crowd backing them. Local sensation Mamatha Poojary will be seen in action after a hiatus as she represents Railways.

Karnataka women’s team coach Ravi Shetty, who also coaches U Mumba, had a special mention for his team’s raiders. “We had 18 days of training at the SAI Campus here and our biggest strength will be our raiders, Usharani and Sushmitha (Pawar). More importantly, we need to overcome the pressure of being the home side,” he said.   
 
The unseasonal rains threaten to play spoilsport but Prasad Rao, technical director of the International Kabaddi Federation, said matches will go ahead despite the showers.

“Definitely the weather conditions are not in our hands. Our technical staff is doing their best to keep the ground dry so a little rain will not affect the proceedings.”

“The plan is to play on synthetic courts but in case the rain gets heavier we also have the provision of playing on the mud courts that have been made ready to tackle this situation. But I remain positive about playing all matches on the synthetic courts.”

There will be a total of 33 teams in the men’s category and 28 in the women’s. But even on the eve of the tournament the organisers had not finalised the groupings and fixtures.

The tournament will be held on a league-cum-knockout format with the top two teams qualifying for the knockouts.

The winners of the men’s and women’s category stand to collect Rs 3 lakh while the runners-up will receive 2 lakh each and Rs 1 lakh for bronze medallists.

Karnataka squad: Men’s: BS Shabeer (captain), Prashanth Rai(vice-captain), Jeevakumar, Sukesh Hegde, Rajaguru, Kiran, Santosh, Nithesha, Chethan Suvarna, Manoj, Lokesh, Govindharaju, BC Suresh (coach), BN Mahesh (manager).

Women’s: Usharani (captain), Navyashree (vice-captain), Divya, Sushmitha Pawar, Saraswathi, Leelavati, Kousalya, Chaithra, Sumitha, Shruthi, Roopashree, Ravi Shetty (coach), Shivanna (manager).