Bengaluru, October 22: This season Star Sports, the official broadcaster for VIVO Pro Kabaddi League 2018 lifts the spirit of the game a notch higher with the announcement of Australia's three-time Olympic gold medallist swimmer Stephanie Rice, as an addition to the illustrious expert panel.
Along with current panellists Suhail Chandok and Radhakrishnan Sreenivasan, Stephanie is all set to bring her spin to the kabaddi mat in the weeks to come this season.
Special episode of #KBDLive tonight ahead of our first #InterZoneChallenge week @ProKabaddi with @ItsStephRice making her #VivoProKabaddi presenting debut!
— Suhail Chandhok (@suhailchandhok) October 21, 2018
Let's give her a proper welcome...Should be a fun show on this Super Sunday & it all kicks off @StarSportsIndia 2 @ 7.30pm! pic.twitter.com/LhjYIYfN5c
Excited to be in India for VIVO PKL 2018, Stephanie said, "I've officially been in India for a while now and I have started to understand kabaddi. I feel it is a kind of game I will call professional tag/red rover which is played on a matt that looks like a basketball court."
It’s all about @ProKabaddi and the 2 superstars @RaiderRahul and #PardeepNarwal tonight
— Stephanie Rice (@ItsStephRice) October 19, 2018
"The players are so fit, agile and strong and have such smart methods of manoeuvring opponents. Thanks to my hindi lessons, I can pronounce their names now and I look forward to a fantastic season. Also, for the first time, I have stepped out of my comfort zone with presenting a new sport like Kabaddi and really hope that this will be an amazing experience for me and for all the spectators out there.''
Stephanie Rice is doing great at pronouncing Indian names. Way better than what other foreign commentators and anchors have done so far...#VivoProKabaddi
— Aadit Saluja (@aaditsaluja007) October 21, 2018
Swimmer, mentor and entrepreneur, Rice knew she wanted to swim for her country at the young age of eight.
Rice drew the globe's attention when she won three gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, in world record breaking time. The unstoppable young champion went on to co-author her own book "The Art of Wellness" post retirement at twenty-four. She is also the face of several international brands and continues to win hearts through her passion to enhance people's lives through one-on-one mentoring, workshops and her own self-motivation program.
Fans can catch each match LIVE, 7:30 pm onwards, starting with ShareChat KBD LIVE on the Star Sports Network including the FTA channel Star Sports First, regional channel Star Sports 1 Tamil, in Kannada on Star Suvarna Plus, in Telugu on Star Maa Gold and Hotstar.
(Source: Press Release)