Lahore Lions score convincing win over Yo Yo Tigers to move into second place in Wave World Kabaddi League
· Man of the match: Shafiq Ahmad Chisti (Lahore Lions)
· Best Raider: Shafiq Ahmad Chisti (Lahore Lions) (29 raids)
· Best Stopper: Mohammed Ramzan (Lahore Lions) (5 stops)
Ludhiana, September 7: Lahore Lions rallied from a first quarter deficit to beat Yo Yo Tigers and move into sole second position in the inaugural Wave World Kabaddi League. Lahore Lions won 69-59.
Lahore Lions rode on the exploits of raiders Shafiq Ahmad Chisti (29 raids) and Akmal Shazad Dogar (22 raids) between the contributed 51 of their team’s 69 points they coasted to a convincing win.The fourth win in five matches took Lahore Lions’ tally to eight points. Khalsa Warriors, who were held to a tie by Punjab Thunder on Saturday lead with nine points, while Lahore Lions have eight.
Earlier in the day United Singhs beat Royal Kings USA 59-53 to take their tally to six points. United Singhs and Yo Yo Tigers share third place on the table with six points each from five matches.
Shafiq was adjudged the Wave Man of the Match and also the Top Raider of the Match. Mohammed Ramzan (5 stops) was the Best Stopper. Shafiq’s 29 raids is the best so far in the Wave WKL League. The Sonalika Best Raid of the Day combined for both matches on Sunday was won by Baljeet Singh of Royal Kings USA.
The arrival of the Wave WKL into Punjab seems to have spurred all the teams as the matches have become closer and more thrilling. After two close games on Saturday, one of them being a tie, the two games on Sunday were once again great thrillers.
Yo Yo Tigers began well, as their skipper, Manminder Singh, a three-time Man of the Match this season, as usual gave his team a great start. In addition raider Sandeep, too chipped in well, as both scored five successful raids each. Stopper Kulveer Singh Kaka had two good stops. Despite Shafiq (6) and Akmal (5) giving their team a boost, Yo Yo Tigers held a slender advantage at 16-15.
The Lahore Lions, whose only loss so far has been to Khalsa Warriors moved into their rhythm in the second quarter with both Akmal and Shafiq giving them 100 strike rate with their raids. Lahore soon overtook Yo Yo Tigers as Shafiq and Akmal’s aggressive raids paid rich dividends.
Shafiq in particular thrilled the spectators with elusive jumps and getting away from the clutches of the Yo Yo stoppers. They also exposed the weaknesses in Yo Yo defence. By the end of the second session, both Shafiq and Akmal had conducted 14 successful raids each.
Raiders Manminder and Sandeep did put up a fight, but Lahore Lions were slowly but surely pulling away.The Shafiq-Akmal combine continued to rule in the third session as Yo Yo Stoppers seemed to struggle against them. The Lahore duo won most of their raids as the team kept inching further away despite the best efforts of Manminder, Sandeep and Angrez Singh.
In the final quarter Lahore Lions kept up the momentum and their raiders kept adding to their tally.
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