PKL-6: Dejected Rishank vows to return stronger

Clearly dejected at the heart-breaking 31-38 loss to Gujarat Fortunegiants in the second qualifier and thereby crashing out of the Pro Kabaddi League season 6 here on Thursday, UP Yoddha skipper Rishank Devadiga pledged to come back stronger next season.

"This hasn't been a satisfactory season for us. From a personal point of view, I was given the opportunity to lead this great team but unfortunately we couldn't get over the line," Rishank told IANS after the match.

Underlining the positives the team derived from the ongoing season, Rishank picked promising raider Prasanth kumar Rai as the one for the future.

"We have had a lot of positives from this season, specially the rise of youngsters like Prasanth. Hopefully we can come back stronger next season," he said.

On being asked to name the team most likely to win PKL-6, Rishank minced no words in picking Bengaluru Bulls as the clear favourites.

"Bengaluru has a great chance of winning the PKL-6 title. Their defence has been one of the strongest this season," he said.

Meanwhile, an elated Gujarat coach Manpreet Singh praised his team's effort while cautioning them against any hiccups in their second attempt at the elusive title on Saturday.

"UP has had a great 8-game unbeaten streak. We monitored that and went after their weaknesses. Towards the end, they managed to come back... We always knew they are a very good side and can comeback anytime," he said.

"Our players played well, despite conceding a few towards the end. Hopefully we can take the title which we missed last season," he added.

Conceding that his side's plans went off-track in the dying minutes, Singh said keeping things simple was the key for his side.

"Our planning went off-track towards the end but we managed to keep things simple and restrict them," he said.

(Tridib Baparnash can be contacted at tridib.b@ians.in)

--IANS

tri/ajb/nir