Anupam Goswami hopes PKL can become feeding ground for Indian team

The Pro Kabaddi League Commissioner also spoke on the possibility of starting a women's league.

Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season 9 is nearing its halfway mark with matches now being played in Pune. After 55 matches, the tournament is in its interesting mode where all the teams have played about nine matches each and the fight for the top six positions in the points table will begin now. As the tournament takes a breather, Anupam Goswami, League Commissioner of PKL, addressed the media in Pune.

Anupam Goswami stressed the need to have more international games for the team to prepare for events like the Asian Games and the Kabaddi World Cup. He said that it is important for the Indian players to go through tough international experiences which would help build a strong team for the country.

"The emergence of young players has made a difference. We will see a lot of young talent from the PKL in the Indian team. The Asian Games next year should mark the return of Kabaddi to the international stage. We would like to see more tournaments being played and formats like bi-laterals, and tri-laterals should get a kick-off soon," he said.

Speaking about the legacy of the league, Mr. Goswami said that it is too early to speak about legacy. "We are heading into the 10th season and it is a long way to go for us. For an emerging sport like Kabaddi, we will think about the strategy for the next 10 years first and our goal would be to make kabaddi a world-class sport. We have kept on improving and will be building on that every year ahead.

“Women’s sport is getting a good boost and it will be the decade for the women athletes to shine. Eventually, we will also look at women’s league to start,” Mr. Goswami added.

The tournament has grown from the last season

Anupam Goswami said that the league has seen good growth this season and many young players are emerging. Bharat, Ankush, and Narender have come up and made a mark for their teams already, with more than half of the tournament remaining. Speaking on the veteran kabaddi players, he said, “Pardeep Narwal has scored more than 1400 points in the tournament since he started playing in PKL Season 2.

"This is indeed a phenomenal achievement for Narwal as we as the PKL. Players like Rahul Chaudhari and Deepak Niwas Hooda have also been performing well, and ensuring that the veteran players remain relevant to the tournament. The combination of new plus old will give the league a good shape going ahead."

With defenders dominating in the last few seasons, raiders have come back to form this year and have seen an increase of about 30% in raid points from last season. Speaking about the league opening its doors to the audience again after COVID-19, Mr. Goswami mentioned that the home matches of Bengaluru and Pune have seen more than 75% of the stadium being filled with fans, which is a great direction for the league. Consumer engagement in digital media has also increased a lot this year.