Puneri ends ‘home’ leg with huge win

PUNE: Puneri Paltan ended its Pro Kabaddi League Season 9 ‘home’ leg with a comprehensive 43-27 victory over Bengal Warriors at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex here on Monday.

The Fazel Atrachali-led Puneri, which has secured 49 points from 14 matches, returned to the top of the table while Bengal sits seventh with 37 points off 13 games. The raiding triumvirate of Akash Shinde (10 points – 9 raid points and 1 tackle point), Aslam Inamdar (9 points – 7 raid points and 2 tackle points) and Mohit Goyat (8 raid points) sizzled for Paltan that notched up its eighth victory of the season.

Puneri inflicted an early ‘All Out’ to open up a 10-point (11-1) cushion, but Bengal came up with a clean sweep of its own to reduce the deficit. However, the in-form Paltan team effected another ‘All Out’ – its second in the first period – to lead 24-13 at the break.

The Pune side kept the momentum going in the second half as it produced its third ‘All Out’, which meant the ‘host’ was ahead by 19 points at 33-14. Paltan continued to dominate the contest and ensured Bengal ended the match empty-handed. For Warriors, skipper Maninder Singh (14 raid points) fought a lone battle by securing more than half the points. In the second and final match of the night which was a thriller, Haryana Steelers edged out Gujarat Giants 33-32. Manjeet was the chief contributor for Haryana with 14 raid points while Gujarat captain Chandran Ranjit’s eight-point performance went in vain.

RESULTS: Bengal Warriors 27 lost to Puneri Paltan 43; Gujarat Giants 32 lost to Haryana Steelers 33