Google Palayanallur. This village near Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu will throw up a number of results — location, temples, pincode and district info. And then a video of the man who has put this village on the national kabaddi mat — M. Sudhakar.
The 21-year-old is a sprightly raider who has made his way through the Yuva Kabaddi Series, a youth league that attracts fresh blood seeking to leave their mark on the kabaddi mat and one that also looks to be feeder to the bigger and more popular Pro Kabaddi League. Sudhakar, who represents Patna Pirates, is quick down the flanks and supremely agile with his dubkis (dives from under the defensive chain). He has the skill and the energy to use it productively once he steps on the rubber.
A part of a multipronged raiding unit in the Pirates setup, Sudhakar has already scored 39 points in five matches, including two Super 10s.
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Takes a village to make a hero
Sudhakar belongs to a passionate kabaddi lineage. His father and three elder brothers are all kabaddi players who live and breathe the sport. However, Sudhakar is the only one who has made it to the peak of professional kabaddi.
The young Tamil Nadu player’s nascent career is an example of how support can help a person soar.
Sudhakar has quickly become a crowd favourite due to his electric presence on the mat, but off it, he is as shy as they come. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
“When my brothers went to play tournaments, I would also have the itch to play,” Sudhakar told Sportstar. “When I got picked for my school and college teams, I would be used in the last two to three minutes to raid strategically.”
Sudhakar still plays for his local side, Palayanallur Kabaddi Club, which continues to back the raider.
“I then joined Jamal Mohamed College. Eventually, I played in the junior Nationals and we got a medal there. That paved the way for me to join the Integral Coach Factory (ICF),” Sudhakar recalled.
Well-wisher’s push
“I didn’t know about the ICF or the opportunity. The person I have to thank is a wellwisher called Pasupathy. He is someone I had never seen before. He saw my performances and reached out to me with a job offer at the ICF. He mentored me like I was his younger brother and the steady employment and stability in my life is all because of him,” he added.
Sudhakar’s interest in the sport bloomed at the cost of his academics, but he wasn’t worried about it.
“I never wanted to take a break from kabaddi because I knew I was not academically gifted and it might not open career avenues for me. My livelihood and sustenance depended on it as I knew that this sport might help me get a job or find my way to platforms like Pro Kabaddi,” he explained.
Sudhakar’s life is tuned to the clock of the sport.
“Beyond 5.30 in the morning, I usually can’t sleep. I head to the ground by 6.30 and I am usually the first man on the ground. The others turn up around 8. So I work on my jumps with the tyres, I run and I also prepare the mud for us to play on,” he said, narrating his routine back home. Younger children who train at the club would spend some time taking tips from Sudhakar after which it would be time for him to train with the seniors.
Sudhakar missed the trials for the Yuva Kabaddi Series as he was participating in an intercollegiate match. However, luck favoured the player as Samiyappan, coach of Palani Tuskers and coach of the TN junior side, backed Sudhakar and chose him anyway.
Scary start
“The experience of my first professional kabaddi match during the Yuva Kabaddi Series was a little scary. The lights, just how bright the arena was, the audience, everything was so intimidating. I hesitated a little bit but I got a Super 10 in my first game. That eventually helped me ease into what life in Pro Kabaddi would be like,” Sudhakar remembered.
Even in the league, Sudhakar comes into an ecosystem that is largely hindi speaking, something he considered as an element that held him back a bit. However, he had a familiar face in ICF teammate Sajin Chandrasekar who helped bridge the gap.
Raiding for respect
When the PKL caravan moved to Chennai, sitting in the audience to watch the Pirates in action were Sudhakar’s parents, Maruthamuthu and Kannagi.
“Sudhakar’s father, two elder brothers and cousin brothers have that flavour of kabaddi in them and train everyday in our village. It’s life. Tiruchi usually has a kabaddi tournament as part of the jallikattu festival,” Kannagi reminisced.
Sudhakar with his family after a Pro Kabaddi League match in Chennai | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Unlike the men of the household, the women did not play the sport and Kannagi was not always a comfortable spectator because her son was injury-prone early on .
“At the start, I used to get injured and my father being a kabaddi player knows how often a player gets injured. My mother once cried seeing me get injured during a local match. So for a while, my parents hesitated to let me take part in local tournaments but my brothers started accompanying me wherever I went and that helped them feel reassured,” he recollected.
For Sudhakar, the hunger to succeed in the sport stemmed from an intensely personal motive too. “My father is a daily-wage worker. Avaru moota thookuvaru (would carry loads) and wasn’t very respected in our village. But now that I have managed to get here to Pro Kabaddi and thanks to playing the sport, our village folk now recognise him as kabaddi Sudhakar’s father and that always brings him to tears. He speaks often about how proud that makes him,” Sudhakar revealed.
As the season unfolds, besides giving his parents a reason to smile, Sudhakar is keen to repay the faith his coach Narender Redu has shown in him. “When teams acquire new players, they don’t always trust them with opportunities in the playing 7 right away and back them the way I have been. I hope I finish with 300 points in the season and help the team in the best way I can,” he signed off.
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