Haryana hold Chennai in PKL contest

Haryana Steelers played out a closely fought 25-25 draw against Tamil Thalaivas in an inter-zonal Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) contest at the Transstadia Arena here on Wednesday.

Haryana thus moved up to the third spot in Zone A with three points from the draw, while Chennai will remain unchanged at the sixth spot in Zone B.

Surjeet Singh (4 points) along with Surender Nada (7 points) played well in the attack and defence respectively for Haryana. For Chennai, raider K. Prapanjan produced a valiant effort with seven points.

Haryana Steelers got off to a quick start through a successful raid from Surjeet Singh. They outfit maintained a 4-2 lead in the initial minutes with help of their young raider Vikas Kandola and Wazir Singh.

Later skipper Surender Nada pulled off consecutive successful tackles to help Haryana maintain the momentum.

The Tamil Thalaivas opened their account with a successful raid from K. Prapanjan. They took the lead with a successful tackle in the seventh minute but failed to maintain it. The Chennai outfit gave away easy tackle points to the opposition and also failed in back to back do or die raids.

Chennai skipper Ajay Thakur tactically substituted himself to bring on his foreign teammate Donggeon Lee in the first half who along with defender Amit Hooda kept their side in the match.

The second half began with Chennai taking two points in a do or die raid and combining well to tackle successfully resulting into the all-out of their opponents and taking a 20-16 lead with 11 minutes left.

Haryana seemed to have lost momentum from the onset of the second half giving away tackle and raid points with ease and letting away empty raids without clinching a single point.

The Steelers looked to narrow the gap, combing well on the defence and attack after taking a time-out.

But thanks to Surjeet and Kandola and his successful tackles Haryana did not lose their grip on the match.

--IANS

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