The 70th Senior National Men’s Kabaddi Championship kicked off in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra on Thursday, 21st March. Top kabaddi stars like Pawan Sehrawat (Chandigarh), Vishal Bhardwaj (Chandigarh), Narender (Chandigarh), Aslam Inamdar (Maharashtra), Sunil Kumar (Indian Railways), Surender Gill (Indian Railways), Arjun Deshwal (Services), Rahul Chaudhari (Uttar Pradesh) and V Ajith Kumar (Tamil Nadu) are representing their respective states and employers in the four-day kabaddi extravaganza from 21st March to 24th March.
Defending champions Indian Railways beat BSNL 40-7 in the opening match of the tournament.
Meanwhile, after leading Indian Railways to their fourth-consecutive title in the 69th Senior National Men’s Kabaddi Championship, Hi-Flyer Pawan Sehrawat represented Chandigarh in the 70th edition of the tournament and beat Telangana 48-37.
Maharashtra boasted of the strongest squads on paper with PKL regulars like Aslam Inamdar, Sanket Sawant, Akash Shinde, Aditya Shinde, Harsh Lad, and Mayur Kadam, all part of the team and they proved their worth by beating Gujarat 48-31.
As many as 30 teams from India are participating in the nation’s premier inter-state kabaddi competition this year. They have been divided into eight groups, three each in two groups and four sides in the other six groups.
Group A comprises Indian Railways, Madhya Pradesh and BSNL while Maharashtra, Delhi and Gujarat are placed in Group B.
Goa, Bihar, Manipur, and West Bengal are placed in Group C, whereas Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura and Uttarakhand are clubbed in Group D.
Group E pits the likes of Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Pondicherry against each other, while Chandigarh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana feature in Group F.
Meanwhile, Group G includes Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir and Vidarbha.
Services, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha are a part of Group H.
All teams will square off once with each of their opponents from their respective groups with the top two sides progressing to the round of sixteen.
The day’s final match witnessed Bihar beat West Bengal 40-31 to wrap up an exciting day of action.