Hyderabad Horses scored a 31-20 victory against Haridwar Hunters in the final and lifted the Kabaddi Premier League trophy at DRRMC indoor stadium here on Thursday.
Horses was leading comfortably with 16-5 at the break. It was Horses all the way as both raiders and defenders complimented each other and played with a positive frame of mind. Though skipper Manpreet and Nitin Madane did the bulk of raiding, the defenders led by Nilesh Shinde and Ran Singh did a brilliant job by blocking the rival raiders at the crucial moments.
In fact, both Rakesh and Jasvir, the star performers of Hunters, looked tentative and their raids, when it mattered, lacked aggression. Down 11-26, Hunters showed some signs of recovery in the second half with Rakesh and Jasvir scoring a flurry of points, but Manpreet Singh-led Horses had the last laugh.
Manpreet emerged as the highest scorer with 129 points in 147 raids including 35 bonus points. Nitin Madane finished second for Horses with 51 points from 94 raids including 18 bonus points.
For Hunters, skipper Rakesh hauled 81 points in 115 raids and Jasvir logged 89 points from 139 raids.
BJP senior leader M. Venkaiah Naidu handed over a cheque for Rs. 10 lakhs and a trophy to the winning team's skipper Manpreet Singh.
Haridwar Hunters took home Rs. 5 lakhs while both Dr. Anand Ongole Bulls and Krishna Kings pocketed Rs. 1.5 lakh each.
Special awards: Man of the tournament: Manpreet Singh of Hyderabad Horses (Rs. One lakh); Best raider: Wazir Singh of Dr. Anand Ongole Bulls (Rs. 50,000); Best defender: Pradeep Kumar of Hyderabad Horses (Rs. 50,000); Best fair play award: Nitin Madane of Hyderabad Horses (Rs. 50,000); Best all-rounder: Rakesh Kumar of Haridwar Hunters (Rs 50,000).
