Birmingham Bulls win inaugural British Kabaddi League
In the first edition of the British Kabaddi League (BKL), Birmingham Bulls defeated Glasgow Unicorns to claim the inaugural title and wrote their names in record books
Pro Kabaddi League now in UKThe match was rather one-sided. The bulls were able to claim an easy win over Glasgow with 48 - 18. In the semi-finals, Birmingham Bulls defeated Manchester Raiders in a much closer contest with 44 - 33. At the same time, Glasgow Unicorns defeated London Lions in a very close encounter by 33 - 31.
After their semis encounter with the lions, Birmingham Bulls completely dominated the match over an exhausted-looking Glasgow team. Adding to the misery for Unicorns was the absence of the tournament's top raider Piotr Pamulak. Without him, the attack lacked the bite to trouble the fantastic Bulls defence, spearheaded by England skipper Someshwar Kalia and Felix Li. Vinay Gupta led the attack for the Bulls.
On this joyous evening Amo Singh, the co-owner of the champion team, said to the BBC - "I'm so delighted. We worked so hard to get past Manchester in the semis, and I'm pleased the players kept the momentum going in the final against Glasgow.
"We'll be even stronger next year when defending our title.
"It's been a brilliant tournament."
The BKL is made possible by the England Kabaddi Association and Scottish Kabaddi Association. The man behind the idea is Ashok Das, a former Indian player. He is also the chairman of the England Kabaddi Federation and the World Kabaddi Federation. Significant support has been lent by the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Business and Tourism Programme (BATP) and West Midlands Growth Company in making the tournament a possibility. The main idea is to leverage the upcoming Commonwealth Games to create a sporting legacy with a sound economic base in the country.
The tournament comprises eight teams - Birmingham Bulls, Wolverhampton Wolfpack, Walsall Hunters, Leicester Warriors, London Lions, Edinburgh Eagles, Glasgow Unicorns and Manchester Raiders. The tournament is designed in a League-cum-knockout format, with each team playing against the remaining 7in the league stage to decide the knockout spots. All the matches were played in just four cities - Wolverhampton, Glasgow, Birmingham and Manchester.
In the match for third place, Manchester Raiders inched over London Lions in a thrilling, close high, scoring match with a score of 52 - 51.
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