Odisha juggernauts ended Chennai Quick Guns' impressive winning run with a 10-point victory in the inaugural edition of Ultimate Kho Kho at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Mahalunge, Pune on Wednesday.
It was a third successive win for Odisha Juggernauts. With this win, Odisha Juggernauts not only entered the Top-2 on the points table with 12 points but also completed a league double over Chennai Quick Guns. Earlier, they had won by eight points.
Nilesh Jadhav scored 15 points for Odisha Juggernauts which included five brilliant dives, skipper Milind Chavarekar and Suraj Lande supported him well with nine and eight points respectively.
For Chennai Quick Guns, P Narasayya and Manoj Patil struck eight points each.
With Gowtham MK and Jagannatha Murmu securing dream runs by defending for 2.33 minutes and 2.59 minutes respectively, Odisha Juggernauts didn't allow Chennai Quick Guns to score easy points and restrict them at 19-4 lead in the first seven minutes.
Chennai Quick Guns came into the match after three back-to-back wins.
Despite in-form Ramji Kashyap presenting some challenges in the defence with his stay of 2.23 minutes, Odisha Juggernauts responded well to level the scores within the first five minutes of the second turn before they ended the first innings with a 28-19 lead.
All-rounder Subhasis Santra claimed four bonus points for Odisha Juggernauts with his stay of 3.04 minutes as Chennai Quick Guns could manage to get only a narrow five-point lead with 37-32 at the end of the third turn.
Odisha Juggernauts added 19 more points to their tally in the final turn to end the game comfortably with a 51-41 score
Later tonight, Mumbai Khiladis will take on Rajasthan Warriors in the second match of the day.
On Thursday, Odisha Juggernauts will clash with Rajasthan Warriors while Gujarat Giants will take on Telugu Yoddhas.
Season 1 of India's first-ever franchise-based league has been featuring six franchises--Chennai Quick Guns, Gujarat Giants, Mumbai Khiladis, Odisha Juggernauts, Rajasthan Warriors and Telugu Yoddhas.
Ultimate Kho Kho is promoted by Amit Burman in collaboration with the Kho Kho Federation of India. The final will take place on September 4.
( With inputs from ANI )
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