We are focused on making it to the Qualifiers, says Pardeep Narwal

The 'Dubki King' is one of the best Kabaddi raiders in the country.

UP Yoddha and their superstar Pardeep Narwal have made it to the play-off stages for the fourth season running. Their performance in the last few games have set an incredible example for other franchisees to emulate. Key to their success this season was superstar Pardeep Narwal who logged as many as four Super 10s in the final five games and currently stands second on the ‘Super Raids’ table with nine such inflictions on his opponents.

Narwal’s and his teammates exploits have turned UP Yoddha into one of the most attractive franchisees of the PKL as is evident by their numbers. Highest number of raids, super tackles, super raids and number two in total points earned reflect upon a team with all-round ability.

Also popularly known as ‘Dubki King’, Pardeep Narwal hails from a small village in Sonipat (Haryana) and kicked off his Kabaddi journey at the age of eight, following in the footsteps of his father and role model. He was picked soon to be a part of the State Kabaddi Team which played a pivotal role in the superstar’s kabaddi journey and pulled him eventually into the PKL.

In no time Pardeep Narwal became ‘Record Breaker Pardeep Narwal’. He said, “Now I’m satisfied with my performance in the last few games, especially because that helped my team win. But there is scope for more improvement and I’ll leave no stone unturned to fight better for my side in the eliminators. We are well prepared to face any opponent in knockouts and will certainly give our fans more reasons to be happy. The competition is only going to get tougher now and our immediate goal is to stay focused on making it to the qualifiers.”

Pardeep who has recently created a record of becoming the lone raider to achieve ‘1300 Raid Points’ along with the highest ’67 Super 10’ and ’61 Super Raids’ in his PKL journey further said, “This milestone could have been achieved earlier this season but due to some injuries, it took more time. But now I’m delighted to be in the category of all-time best Kabaddi raiders in the country.”

Elaborating on the secret of this sudden turnaround, he says, “I have worked a lot on my speed which was a bit slow for the raids. In the early stages, I wasn’t doing great, so coach sahab very thoroughly noticed it and asked me to work on my speed and I followed his advice. This along with injuries healing saw an improvement in my performance and now I plan to improve even further on the speed aspect”.

Talking about his practice and training schedule, Pardeep stated, “We at the UP Yoddha BK Kabaddi Academy have been in the camps from last one year and were practising as a team under the guidance of our coach and assistant coach. While practicing as a unit, it helped us to know about each other’s strengths and weaknesses. And I wanted to tell all Kabaddi fans and budding players, that I haven’t seen such a great Kabaddi Academy as the BK Academy in my life. The academy has separate practice areas for matt lovers and mud lovers as well. And from lodging to training, everything is superclass including the infrastructure.” 

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