A 3 Year Dream Finally Got Fulfilled

     One thing that could satisfy my soul is Sports.  Any game that we witness in person is going to give that satisfaction and real time game feel.  I have been to International Cricket matches, IPL, Ranji Trophy, Irani Trophy, Club level Football, and International Hockey.  Indian Super League and Pro Kabbadi League are the missing ones. Wanted to see Chennaiyin FC play for almost 5 years now and the 3 year dream finally got fulfilled last Saturday by watching Tamil Thalaivas play in the Pro

Kabbadi League.

     Kabbadi was always played in the backwaters and there wasn't much awareness about it as there wasn't much media coverage.  Thanks to PKL, this game has attained a global reach.  The intensity of the game is high and I feel it is one of the best way to reduce one's weight by just watching the match.  

     I badly wanted to watch PKL match live and wasn't missing an opportunity this year as I was eagerly anticipating the Chennai leg of the tournament.  It was scheduled to start on 17th of August and I planned to go to have this live experience.  It was almost a full house on the day, but got disappointed as the security guards didn't allow me to take my backpack inside.  I had to call my friend Prabhakar who lives near to the stadium and gave my bag to him and went inside.  

     I was all the more excited as I am going to watch Ajay Thakur live in action(He is my first Hero in Kabbadi). I waited patiently for 1 hour for the game to begin as I was an early bird.  To be honest, Kabbadi has a great fan following in our city, many families came to witness the match.  Cricketer Dinesh Karthick was in the house and was adding excitement.

     All the wait was worth watching stars of the game on the mat, but sadly the team I support(Home Team) lost the match poorly.  Still Watching great players like Ajay Thakur, Rahul Chowdary, Manjeet Chillar, Ran Singh, Pawan Sherawat, Rohit Kumar was great.  Chennai was denied a point when Ajay was jersey pulled, but that is what sports is all about.  If its not your day,  everything goes against you. 

     Second match was very exciting as it ended in a tie between Bengal Warriors and Dhabang Delhi and that too with a review on the last raid.  Great players like Maninder Singh, Prapanjan, Nabibaksh, Ranjith, Jogindar Narval and  Naveen Kumar(Young Sensation) were on the mat and it was nice to see them in action.

     Over all it was a great experience to watch a Kabbadi match live with so much excitement.  Will share few pics and videos here.

For current status of the league logon to  https://www.prokabaddi.com/

Tamil Thalaivas Entering the Mat against Bengaluru Bulls

Bengaluru Bulls Entering the mat

Tamil Thalaivas Team Huddle

Toss - Tamil Thalaivas versus Bengaluru Bulls

Cheers !!!!!

India Becoming A Sporting Nation

     Its almost 72 years after we started taking care of ourselves which actually is a kind of downhill progress.  Sports in particular was really great during the pre-independence days.  It started to wind down as the days went.  Main reason for it is the lack of importance and lack of funding.  One example that I can quote is the condition of Indian hockey.  They were invincible's during the era of Dhyan Chand.  Today we are struggling to even qualify for the Olympic Games, one of the important reason being the change over of playing field from mud to synthetic turf.  Since our govt didn't provide enough fund to develop the game, it is on the decline.


      Today the conditions are changing and importance of sport is understood well and effort has been put to develop the same.  Starting with Cricket, We were so dominant that people started talking about India as the team to beat in the CWC 19', but for a 45 minutes of mad batting, the world cup would have been ours. 

      Indian Football has seen a gigantic rise.  There is a league called I- league which has been played for years with no great improvement.  The introduction of ISL has attracted the crowd and it has become a showpiece event.  Thanks to Sunil Chettri's Tweet which brought us together as fans and now the urge is there for the team to win and the fans to support the team even when they loose. They have moved forward with AFC cup last year and was so close to entering the third round.   Hence Indian football is on the rise.


     Athletics is always a see-saw ride as it depends mostly on the physique of a person than the skill.  Lack of nutrition, lack of proper coaching and infrastructure hamper the development of athletes.  Still many athletes who work on their own interest has garnered the world stage.  It will take minimum 10 years for India to compete strongly on the world stage in athletics.


    Kabbadi has always been our sport.  We have always dominated the game and the introduction of Pro Kabbadi League has elevated the game to the next level.  Iran as a country used this league to develop their national team which finished second in the world cup.  Modernization of Kabbadi has done a lot of good to the game and India being the hub is just an icing on the cake.


    Tennis has become a sad story for our country as no strong name has emerged after the legends Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza.  Hope it develops soon and we can see our tri-colour at the grandslam event.

India Becoming A Sporting Nation is a work in progress. Hope it becomes one very soon


Cheers!!!!!