Naveen vs Maninder: Khel Now experts divided over who will be India's top raider at upcoming Asian Games

Naveen Kumar has got the maximum points for Dabang Delhi since making his debut in PKL.

One of the biggest events in international Kabaddi is the Asian Games when the top sides face each other to get their hands on the coveted gold medal. The 19th Asian Games scheduled to be held in Hangzhou city of China this year has officially been pushed to next year as a result of Covid 19 pandemic.

Maninder and Naveen are on the list of probable's for Asian Games

The new dates are 23rd September to 8th October. In the Asian Games held in 2018, the Indian contingent bagged the bronze medal which was considered a poor result for the Kabaddi powerhouse. India failed to qualify for the final as they lost to Iran by 27-18. It was considered a major upset at the time. But it wasn't the only loss the Indian team suffered in the tournament. They were also beaten by South Korea in the group stages. Iran and South Korea are the rising powerhouses in Kabaddi and team India lost to both those sides.

Naveen Kumar recently became fastest player to score 700 raid points in PKL

Come to the 19th edition of the tournament, the Indian team would like to go for gold and according to former world cup winner Mohit Chhillar, and PKL player Preetam Chhillar Naveen Kumar should be India's number 1 raider in the tournament. Naveen Kumar has been one of the top 3 raiders in the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) since making his debut in the tournament and has led Dabang Delhi to two finals, including a title win in the last season.

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"Naveen Kumar has got the agility that is required for a raider, he is unpredictable and oppositions can't plan for him the way they do for other raiders, so for me, Naveen should be India's top raider in the Asian Games", Mohit Chhillar said in a discussion during a show named ‘Bol Kabaddi Khel Kabaddi’ on Khel Now TV YouTube channel. "Maninder Singh and Pawan Sehrawat should be the other two raiders", Mohit further added.

Preetam Chhillar agreed, "Naveen Kumar's moves are unpredictable, he can do dubki, he can go for hand touch and he is very quick, it's not easy to catch him, so he should be number 1 raider", Preetam said on the same show.

Rohit Baliyan, the former U Mumba raider on the other hand insisted that Maninder Singh should be the top raider. He said, "For me, it has to be Maninder Singh, he always gets points".