Although kabaddi as a sport has been around for many decades now, it was given a facelift recently with Pro Kabaddi League. This season of the tournament has begun on a competitive note. Eight teams are battling against each other to vie for the prime position in a game of high adrenaline rush. We speak to the tall and strong contender from the Bengaluru Bulls team Rohit Baliyan on how he’s leaving all the kabbadi fans impressed with his extraordinary raiding skills in Pro Kabaddi season 3 as attacker.
He who represented Telugu Titans in the previous two seasons is raiding for the Bengaluru Bulls in PKL 4. He scored the most raid points in PKLs amongst current Bengaluru players.
The 26-year-old boy from Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh states with a confident poise in a candid interview in Hindi, “The gold is ours this year. I’m very confident of bringing home the cup. Our team has been practicing seriously for a month in Chennai. We spent a lot of time together and got to know each other well. We have great team bonding and it reflects in our game as well. I was playing for the Telugu team earlier and there were other players there too who are now with Bengaluru team, so we have been friends from before. Of course, we have made a lot of new friends. The best part is that a lot of us are national players and have been playing and competing together for over a decade so we know each other and have a lot of friendship and camaraderie.”
Rohit is friends with his other team mates Randhir Singh, Surender Nada, Pawan Kumar, Mohit Chhillar, Ashish Kumar and Manoj Kumar. A left raider, he escapes to garner most of his raid points. He is also adept at picking up bonuses in challenging situations. Scoring 54 off his total 66 raid points in PKL 3 Rohit is expected to carry on from where he left off in PKL 3.
He adds, “There’s been a bit of reshuffling this time, but know all of them well. I’m in the attacking position called raiders. We’re playing really well, and I can see us entering the finals and winning this time. Kabbadi is a team game so we practice from every morning from 7 to 9 am where we focus on our team strengths and weaknesses. Since we are young we have no problem in working towards our fitness goals and also rest,”
Speaking about our city, Rohit adds, “I love Bengaluru. I’m proud to be playing for Bengaluru Bulls. Our focus is on our game and practice and I’ve been staying away from my family for very long now, but we speak on the phone regularly. I work in the railways otherwise. The playoffs are starting on July 28 leading to finals on July 30. My dream is to play internationally for my country. I will be going for the Asiad championships next year.”
