Heartbreak as Team Bennett crash out of Kabaddi finals

By Pakhi Dave
Today was not such a good day for Bennett University at the Kabaddi ground, neither Team 1 nor Team 2 could qualify for the finals. Team NCPE (Noida College of Physical Education) with their guru mantra and Team Amity with its confidence moved ahead.

In the first semi-final round, Bennett University won the toss and chose the right side of the court. Shubham from team NCPE went in first and was fiercely put down by Team Bennett. Both the teams were enthusiastic and were in full josh. Team NCPE took the lead by halftime; the score became 19-5. Bennett was charged up after the break and was all in for the challenge. Manish Yadav; the main raider of the team went in for back-to-back to points and the entire hall was filled with cheers again. Bennett University played well but yet was not able to cover the gap of the first half. And the timer went off at the score of 37-29, all the team members shook hands and team Bennett congratulated Team NCPE.

The post lunch round of semi-finals was a roller coaster. It was a match between Amity University; the second favourites of the tournament as they topped their pool and Bennett University's Team 1. Both teams were playing at the same pace, the score was 7-5. Amity picked up the pace and victoriously surged ahead scoring in multiple raids. The score was 21-15 at halftime. There were a lot of times where both the referees had a lot of discussions regarding the assigned points. At 32-18, Team Amity had 2 players remaining and team Bennett was standing guarded. Small fights occurred between the team members and bystanders of Team Amity. Bennett university thought this as a great opportunity and started to collect the backed-up points. Team Amity was still in form despite the disrupters. At the over time the score was 51-44 thus Amity taking away the win.

“We are here to win and it's all about how the other team performs truly, haha” says Shubham; Team Amity.

(The writer is a Semester II student of BA (Journalism and Mass Communication) programme.)