After a pandemic-enforced break in 2020, the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Season VIII is all set to resume on December 22 with defending champions Bengal Warriors taking on UP Yoddha.

The Warriors had a dream run in Season VII, where they secured 14 wins in 22 matches in the league stage before running through the opponents in the play-offs to win the title.

As defending champions, the fans’ expectations from the team is high, as high is the confidence of captain Maninder Singh and coach B.C. Ramesh.

“We are season-ready and no, as defending champions, we are not under any extra pressure,” said captain Maninder, speaking from Bangalore where the team is training at the Padukone-Dravid Centre of Sports Excellence.

This is Maninder’s fourth season with the Warriors and with every passing season, he feels, things have only got better. “Now we have a coach, a trainer, a physiotherapist to take care of all aspects. This has been a vertical movement towards improvement.”

The ace raider does not single out any team which he feels will be the team to beat. “Everyone has prepared well. We have added new players and so have the others. So the rest we will find out khel ke maidan mein.”

The Warriors have retained the title-winning core of lead raider and captain Maninder, raiders Iranian Mohammad Esmail Nabibakhsh and Ravindra Ramesh Kumawat and corner Rinku Narwal.

Narwal will be joined in defence by Iranian Abozar Mohajermighani.

Apart from others, the Warriors have picked up Rishank Devadiga, who was a part of the UP Yoddha team for the last 3 seasons. Maninder’s strength and Devadiga’s speed is expected to complement each other well.

Coach Ramesh is very satisfied with the preparation of his wards.

“The boys have worked a lot on their fitness with swimming, workouts at the gym and honing their groundskills. I’m satisfied with how things stand now.

“The Centre has all the facilities that a sportsperson can ask for and the boys have been enjoying their training,” he said.

The auction took place in Mumbai from August 29-31 and the boys have been practising together since October 18.

“Training together is necessary for coordination, but we started off with giving extra emphasis on fitness. Due to the pandemic, not everyone has been able to practise as desired, with the boys training on their own, in their villages, at their local clubs. So we first sorted that out, raised their energy levels and then got back to full practise together,” Rames said.

Both the captain and coach are emphatic in stating that the league has helped spread the game in the country and popularise it outside.

“On our Intagram page, we get comments and inquiries from across the globe,” said Ramesh.

“We have keen followers in African countries, who want us to share skill videos. Not many know that even a country like Argentina now has a national kabaddi championship. The credit for this inspiration goes to the league, for sure.”