Mumbai, April 9: After five highly successful seasons, the VIVO Pro Kabaddi League, one of the most popular domestic leagues of the country, gears up for yet another season of thrilling action, with the announcement of the "Elite Retained Players".

The League on Monday (April 9) announced the players who would continue their association with their respective franchises for VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season VI starting on October 19. Marking the first milestone for season VI, a total of twenty one players from Season V were retained by their respective franchises.

The "Elite Player Retention" framework is a key constituent to build team continuity for the longer term and the franchises were thus encouraged to retain key players of their choosing for the upcoming season.

Anupam Goswami, League commissioner of the VIVO Pro Kabaddi said, "The League is strongly in favour of team stability and instituting it at a policy level to enable strong team structures. The player retention framework has been strengthened to encourage continuity and a longer term association between player and franchise, to the benefit of both. Squad talent, formation and development have always been top priority for us. Interventions like "Elite Player Retention" and the "Future Kabaddi Heroes" programme will go a long way towards ensuring that VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season VI offers the highest level of talent and competition for India's own sport."

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The list of Elite Retained Players for the sixth edition of the Pro Kabaddi League:

Bengal Warriors: Surjeet Singh, Maninder Singh

Bengaluru Bulls: Rohit Kumar

Dabang Delhi KC: Meraj Sheykh

Gujarat Fortunegiants: Sachin, Sunil Kumar, Mahendra Ganesh Rajput

Haryana Steelers: Kuldeep Singh

Patna Pirates: Pardeep Narwal, Jaideep, Jawahar Dagar, Manish Kumar

Puneri Paltan: Sandeep Narwal, Rajesh Mondal, More GB, Girish Ernak

Tamil Thalaivas: Ajay Thakur, Amit Hooda, C Arun

Telugu Titans: Nilesh Salunke, Mohsen Maghsoudloujafari

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Source: Press Release