Greater Noida, September 27: UP Yoddha - the GMR Group owned franchise of the Vivo-Pro Kabaddi League (Vivo-PKL) based out of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday (September 27) announced their star raider Rishank Devadiga as the captain for the upcoming sixth edition of PKL.

The franchisee also announced that the state-of-the-art Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex, Greater Noida would serve as their home ground for this season from November 2-8. The event also saw the launch of their new attractive players kits alongwith their new TV campaign with the slogan 'Saans Rok, Seena Thok.'

The launch ceremony was graced by the presence of Shri Chetan Chauhan - Minister for Youth & Sports, Uttar Pradesh along with Shri Narendra Bhooshan (IAS) - CEO, Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority, Dr Prabhat Kumar (IAS) - Chairman, Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority; Col. Vinod Bisht - VP, GMR League Games, and players from the UP Yoddha squad.

"Kabaddi is a sport that everyone of us have played at least once in our lifetime and the Pro Kabaddi League has undoubtedly ensured that Kabaddi is now no more a backyard past-time but a full fledged professional sport. Given Uttar Pradesh's rich history in the sport of Kabaddi it was befitting for UP to have a team in the league and I am glad that the GMR Group recognized this opportunity. I am sure the UP Yoddha would make us proud this season and I hope to see them come back home at the top," said Shri Chetan Chauhan, Minister for Youth & Sports, Uttar Pradesh.

UP Yoddha who are fondly called 'The Yoddha' by their fans had an impressive first season in 2017. The team finished 3rd in there Zone and fifth overall. UP Yoddha are confident of improving their performance this season given the depth of experience that the team showcases now.

The team is being coached under the guidance of former national player Jasvir Singh. Jasvir as a player has won the Asian Games Gold medal in 2014 and was a part of the national squad that won the World Cup in 2016. The experienced and very successful Raider Rishank Devadiga leads the 19-member squad of the UP Yoddha team.

The team consists of seven raiders - Rishank Devadiga, Azad Singh, Bhanu Tomar, Prashanth Kumar Rai, Rohit Kumar Choudhary, Shrikant Jadhav and Sulieman Kabir), eight defenders (Nitin Mavi, Nitesh Kumar, Jeeva Kumar, Amit, Vishav Chaudhary, Pankaj, Sachin Kumar and Aashish Nagar) and four all-rounders (Akram Shaikh, Narendra, Sagar Krishna and the Korean Seong Ryeol Kim).

UP Yoddha begin their season in Chennai against Tamil Thalaivas on the October 8th. The team will play a total of 22 games, which also includes six games at their home venue in Greater Noida.

Source: Press Release