UP Yoddha narrowly missed the winning flight against defending champions Bengal Warriors in their opening game in the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) on Wednesday.
UP Yoddha, who started on a slow note, put up a valiant fight towards the end, but narrowly missed their chances for a win as they lost 33-38 to the Bengal Warriors.
For the Yoddha's their star player Pardeep Narwal earned the 8 raid points followed by 5 points from Surender Gill, while captain Nitesh Kumar and Ashu Singh earned 3 tackle points each. UP Yoddha are currently placed fifth on the points table with 1 point to their kitty.
UP Yoddha started at a slow pace giving away points to Bengal Warriors. The Yoddha lost 12 crucial points in the first 8 minutes but slowly made a comeback through Pardeep Narwal's streak of intelligent raids.
Pardeep who stood tall to his experience ensured that the Warriors were forced to make mistakes as he earned a total of 8 points for UP Yoddha. Both sides shared 2 all-out points while the first half came to an end with a score line of 18-18.
The second half again saw the Warriors start on a strong note. The Warriors raced ahead through their raider Nabibakhsh who came for a do-or-die raid in the 23rd minute but ended up going back with a super raid earning 4 vital points.
Minutes later UP Yoddha was inflicted with an All-Out and found themselves trailing 29-20 at the 26th minute.
However, the Yoddha's made a strong comeback through some successful raids and very effective tackles but couldn't make up the point deficit as the match came to a nail biting finish in the favour of Bengal Warriors.
UP Yoddha will play their next match against Patna Pirates on Saturday at 7:30 PM at the Sheraton Grand Whitefield Convention Centre.
( With inputs from ANI )
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