Chennai: U.P. Yoddha, who were at the wrong side of the table, languishing second from last picked up an important 31-24 victory against league leaders Jaipur Pink Panthers in the second match of Pro Kabaddi League at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor, here,
With the win, UP registered its third win of the season while handing over second defeat to Jaipur Pink Panthers. The match was a tightly contested one right from the start and the game remained 5-5 after eight minutes, however good tackling effort from Sumit helped UP just edge past Jaipur with a two-point advantage. However trailing at 7-8 and being reduced to two men on the mat, Jaipur Pink Panthers inflicted a super tackle on Shrikanth Jadhav to take the lead.
But soon, Shrikant JadhavÂs improved form reduced the Jaipur men and the U.P. team secured their first all-Out with two minutes remaining in the first half with a two-point raid by Surender Gill taking out both Amit Hooda and Sandeep Dhull. Yoddha ended the half with a six-point lead (16-10).
In the second-half, Jaipur Pink Panthers, riding on a super raid from Deepak Hooda where he picked up three points, started the proceedings well. However, Mohsen Maghsoudlou was brought on as a substitute by UP Yoddha and he inflicted a super tackle to yet again give his team a six-point advantage. Shrikanth Jadhav, Rishank Devadiga and Surender Gill also continued to score raid points that swelled the lead. Despite suffering an injury, Deepak Hooda fought hard to keep his team’s chances alive but it was not to be as a strong Yoddha defence held firm. In the end-they registered a victory with a lead of seven points to go up a couple of places in the points table and are currenty placed at eighth spot.
Before this game, Haryana Steelers registered a narrow victory over U Mumba with the scores 30-27. With the victory Haryana won their fifth game while Mumba lost their fifth game. The teams batteled so hard until 8-8. After that it was Vikash Khandola who got a super raid to give his team a lead, from then on there was no looking back. In the second half, U Mumba madea spirited comeback but they lost the plot witha couple of super-tackles by Haryana Steelers that gave them an unsurmountable lead, which helped them edge past U Mumba.