Khalsa Warriors beat Royal Kings USA to extend lead at the top with fifth win in the 22nd match of World Kabaddi League 2014
– Man of the match: Gagandeep Singh (Khalsa Warriors) (19 raids)
– Best Raider: Gagandeep Singh (Khalsa Warriors) (19 raids)
– Best Stopper: Karamjeet Singh (Khalsa Warriors) (6 stops)
– Sonalika Power Raid of the day: Sandeep Kumar (Yo Yo Tigers) against Punjab Thunder in the first match
Bhatinda, 13 September 2014: Khalsa Warriors, who were held to a sensational tie in their last league match in Ludhiana, returned to their winning ways beating Royal Kings USA comfortably by a margin of 64-42 to register their fifth win in six matches in the inaugural Wave World Kabaddi League. Khalsa Warriors is the only undefeated team in the league, having won five matches and tying one.
Co-owned by Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar, Khalsa Warriors have 11 points, and are three points ahead of Yo Yo Tigers, who won the first match of the day, and Lahore Lions, both of whom have eight points. Khalsa Warriors and Yo Yo have played six matches each, while Lahore Lions have played five matches.
Khalsa Warriors’ dominance can be seen from the fact that four of their five wins have come with margins of over 20 points. They hold the record for the biggest winning margin – 25 points against United Singh, besides beating Yo Yo Tigers by 22 points, the same as the margin against Royal Kings and they scored a win by 21 points over Vancouver Lions. They also feature in the only tie of the Wave WKL.
As the first triple-header of the Wave WKL with matches on Saturday, Sunday and Monday got off to an electric start, the crowd loved the action with two of the teams owned by acting and singing superstars Akshay Kumar and Yo Yo Honey Singh featured in the first two matches.After Yo Yo Tigers won a close first match against Punjab Thunder, the Khalsa Warriors outplayed Royal Kings USA.
In sharp comparison to the closely fought first match, Khalsa Warriors, who have been the dominant team in the Wave WKL league, outplayed Royal Kings, for whom this was the fourth defeat in six matches. As Khalsa moved to 11 points, three ahead of their nearest rivals, Royal Kings are trailing way behind with four points.Royal Kings skipper and raider Gurlal Singh, who hails from Bhatinda, fought a great battle for his team but it was in vain.
In the first quarter Gurlal Singh and Balram Singh were star raiders for the Royal Kings, while Gagandeep Singh and Gurmeet Singh of Khalsa Warriors were the best for Khalsa as the quarter ended 16 – 12 in favour of Khalsa warriors.
In the second quarter Royal Kings getting desperate to narrow the lead did not manage to do so as the Khalsa stoppers stood in their way like a wall. Defender Satnam Sattu was Khalsa’s star in the defence as they ended extending the lead 31-24.
In the third quarter Khalsa Warriors went even further ahead over the Royal Kings. Gopi Mann and Satnam Sattu in defense and Gagandeep and Jasmanpreet Raju in offense were in no mood to give in.
Khalsa Warriors had 90% success in raids and 11 stops in this quarter as the score read 47 – 33 and the lead had doubled from seven to 14 points.
In the final quarter Khalsa Warriors locked their victory by 22 points, one of the best margins of the Wave WKL. Gagandeep Singh was the star raider of the match with 19 successful raids maintaining 100 % success rate all through and Karanjeet Singh Lasarha the best stopper with six successful stops in the match.
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