PKL has changed many lives: Kabaddi legends recount 1000-match PKL journey

JAIPUR: The Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) felicitated five legends of the sport - Anup Kumar, Dharmaraj Cheralathan, Ajay Thakur, Manjeet Chhillar, and Rishank Devadiga ahead of the historic 1000th Pro Kabaddi League match in Jaipur on Monday.

The legends received a customised memento for their incredible contribution to the Pro Kabaddi League over the last ten seasons.

When asked about the journey of PKL from 1st match to the 1000th match, Dharmaraj Cheralathan said, "The Pro Kabaddi League's journey has been magnificent. Many lives have changed because of the Pro Kabaddi League and many lives will change in the future as well. I hope that the players become even more fitter in the future and have very long careers."

Manjeet Chhillar expressed that he had plans to play in the tenth season as well, "Ajay had told me that we would play the tenth season, but he retired before me. Had he continued to play then we would have probably played in this season. I hope that we complete one lakh Pro Kabaddi League matches one day then I'll be even happier. I wish that kabaddi becomes the number one sport in terms of viewership in the future."

When asked about how much the game has changed since the first-ever PKL match in 2014, Anup Kumar said, "The game has become very fast now. And now the coaches have a lot of players to choose from in their teams. There's a backup for each of the players in each of the teams in the Pro Kabaddi League. And the players get a lot of opportunities to show their mettle as well."

Speaking on the innovative rules implemented in the Pro Kabaddi League over the years, Ajay Thakur said, "The 30-second raid rule has been a great innovation in the game. Kabaddi is an injury-prone game so it's really good that that raids have a time limit of 30 seconds. If there was no time limit then the players wouldn't be able to have long careers."

Meanwhile, Rishank Devadiga expressed his excitement ahead of the 1000th PKL match, "I am really happy to see that the Pro Kabaddi League has reached its 1000th match. The game has grown leaps and bounds through PKL over the last 10 seasons. It's been really nice to be on the journey with PKL right from Season 1."

The Bengal Warriors are taking on the Bengaluru Bulls in the 1000th PKL match, while, the Jaipur Pink Panthers will face off against U Mumba in the next match of the day.