Indian kabaddi captain fetches Rs 12.8 Lakhs in maiden Pro Kabaddi League auction

Mumbai: Devoid of recognition despite its phenomenal success, the sport of kabaddi has always yearned for attention. On Tuesday, it took a major step to thrust itself into mainstream sports by choosing the popular IPL model to raise the fast-paced contact sport onto the global stage.

Owners and representatives of eight franchises bid big and aggressively in the maiden Pro Kabaddi League auctions here on Tuesday. The player pool, divided into categories A, B and C, were subject to scrutiny as franchises jostled to pick their squad of 12 players with an overall cap of Rs 60 lakh.

The biggest buy of the day was India captain and World Cup gold medallist Rakesh Kumar, who was acquired by Patna for Rs 12.8 lakh. Kumar commanded three times his base price of Rs 4 lakh.

Joining him is the elite category was Surjeet Narwal, the 2010 Asian Beach Games gold medallist at Rs 12.2 lakh who was bought by the Delhi franchise owned by Yes Bank’s Rana Kapoor.

The ‘B’ group threw up a major surprise when the Vishakapatnam franchise (Telugu Titan) went all out to secure the services of 20-year-old Deepak Nivas for a whopping Rs 12.60 lakh.

The Abhishek Bachchan-owned Jaipur Pink Panthers spent Rs 11.20 lakhs on local lad Navneet Gautam.