Visakhapatnam: Defending champions U-Mumba narrowly won the opening match of the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League 27-25 at expense of hosts Telugu Titans at the fully packed Port Indoor Stadium here on Saturday.
Mumba kept their noses ahead in the first half 18-8, with Rishank Devadiga delivering the first blow by taking out two Titans players in his first raid. He scored five points in his second raid courtesy an all-out.
Titans’ skipper Rahul Chaudhari and other star raiders Sukesh Hegde and Prashant Kumar Rai failed to score in the first half while the Titans’s defenders D Gopu and Dharmaraj Cheralathan failed to tackle the U-Mumba raiders.
The defending champions then charted out a 26-14 lead, forcing the home team to take a timeout. In the last few minutes, Rahul scored four points and Sukesh Hegde scored seven points to take the score to 24, against Mumba’s 27.
Meraj Sheykh of the Titans then scored one point in the last raid of the game, but to little avail.
Earlier, Pro Kabaddi League’s third season kicked off with a grand opening ceremony.
Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan, attired in an immaculate white dhoti and Nehru jacket, sang the national anthem.
The highlight of the opening ceremony was a spectacular light and sound extravaganza, which included a dazzlingly electrifying performance by the V-Company, the winners of the recent dance reality show Dance Plus. Over 30 dancers set the stage on fire.
