Bennett clear favourites in Kabaddi, says rival team

By Rishi Bhushan

Bennett has a strong team and is the clear favourite of the kabaddi event said Mahammad Nazir, player of BML Munjal University’s Kabaddi team. BML Munjal University (BMU) came out victorious in their kabaddi match against Gautam Buddha University (GBU) on day 2 of the annual sports fest, ‘Sportikon’.

Mahammad Nazir said, “I saw Bennett’s team play yesterday (Day 1) against GBU and I was impressed. Our next match is against them and we are looking forward to giving them a tough fight.” With this win, BMU’s team has qualified for the semi-finals and will play against Bennett-1. Both teams will lock horns in their bids to finish first in pool A.

Both teams played well in the first half, with BML having a modest lead of eight points over GBU at the end of the first-half whistle. In their attempt to cover the lead, GBU increased the intensity of their raids and tackles in the second half but their efforts proved to be futile as the final score read 56-52 in BML’s favour.

Even though GBU’s journey at the Sportikon proved to be short, their players gave the crowd a good show. “We came here to win the tournament but you don’t always get what you want. It is extremely disheartening but we will come back stronger,” said Prashant Badhana, GBU’s player. He added, “I have been to many fests, but the facilities that we got at Bennett were really great. I look forward to coming back next year.”

Even though the match was played with great intensity, players showed mutual respect. This was evident by the display of sportsmanship by BML’s player, Manni who helped his injured rival to limp out off the mat.
(The writer is a Semester II student of BA (Journalism and Mass Communication) programme.)