PKL: Jaipur trumps Gujarat

Jaipur Pink Panthers’ fifth win took its tally to 28 points from eight matches and promoted it to third spot.

Jaipur Pink Panthers' Jasvir Singh raids during its match against Gujarat Fortunegiants in Pro Kabaddi League in Kolkata on Sunday.

Jaipur Pink Panthers put up a coordinated effort under the leadership of Jasvir Singh and excelled in all departments to beat table topper Gujarat Fortunegiants 31-25 in a Zone A match of the Pro Kabaddi League at the Netaji Indoor Stadium here on Sunday.

Jaipur's fifth win took its tally to 28 points from eight matches and promoted it to third spot.

Bengal Warriors defeated Tamil Thalaivas 29-25 for its sixth win in a Zone B contest.

In the neck-and-neck fought first half, which saw a lot of unsuccessful and empty raids from both sides, Jaipur gave Gujarat a close chase because of Manoj Dhull's fine tackling. Ajit Singh, who fetched a two-pointer in the 17th minute, helped Jaipur bridge the slight gap and make it 8-8. Moments later raider-in-chief and captain Jasvir's two touch points made Gujarat all out and enabled Jaipur to establish a 14-9 lead at the halfway stage.

A swift mover on the mat, Pawan Kumar joined the party with Jasvir after the change of ends. The duo widened the gap to put Jaipur comfortably at 19-10 in the 25th minute. Gujarat reduced the margin through Iranian Abozar Mighani's powerful tackles and Mahendra Rajput's three-point raid.

But Gujarat was all out again in the 31st minute as Jaipur relied on its well-planned collective tackling, boosted by Somvir Shekhar, to extend the lead further. Sachin made some successful raids as Gujarat gave a fight till the end before suffering its second successive defeat and third overall.

Maninder Singh and Jan Kun Lee's raids and Surjeet Singh's tackles powered Bengal to lead 18-9 at half-time. Despite injury to its main raider K.Prapanjan, Thalaivas fought back on the strength of Amit Hooda's tackles and Geon Dong's impressive raids to close the gap to 22-23.

A suicidal tackle cost Thalaivas three points and the match, its sixth loss and third in a row.

• Jaipur Pink Panthers 31 (Jasvir Singh 6, Pawan Kumar 4, Somvir Shekhar 4, Manoj Dhull 3) beat Gujarat Fortunegiants 25 (Sachin 7, Mahendra Rajput 4, Abozar Mighani 4).
• Bengal Warriors 29 (Maninder Singh 6, Jan Kun Lee 4, Surjeet Singh 4) bt Tamil Thalaivas 25 (Amit Hooda 4, Ajay Thakur 3, K.Prapanjan 3).