Dabang Delhi appoint Honnappa C. Gowda new head coach

(L-R) Surjeet Narwal, Team owner Ms.Radha Kapoor, Head coach Honnappa Gowda and Rohit Kumar

New Delhi, June 15 (IANS) Gearing up for the second season of Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), Dabang Delhi on Monday appointed former Indian captain Honnappa C. Gowda as their new head coach.

Honnappa replaced Arjun Singh as the head coach of Delhi, who finished sixth in the inaugural season last year. The team also appointed Dr Sandeep Kumar, a specialist sports scientist, with skills in endurance and biomechanics.

"Arjuna Awardee Honnappa Gowda's joining the Dabang Delhi team was a good start for us and I feel his expertise in the sport will be excellent for our players," team owner Radha Kapoor said in a release.

"The team has been practicing really hard for the second season and it looks a balanced outfit with a perfect mixture of youth and experience along with some new faces."

Honnappa said: "This is great time for the sport in India. I look forward to my association with Dabang Delhi and hope to guide them to a title win this year," said Honnappa, who has one Asian Games, two SAF Games and three Asian Championship gold medals in his kitty.

The Delhi-based franchise has some star players such as Surjeet Narwal, Jasmer Singh, Ravinder Pahal, Rakesh Singh. Some fresh faces like Jay Bahadur from Nepal, Yosuke Sasaki from Japan and other young Indian players like Rohit Kumar have joined the team to add a strong balance of youth to the squad.

Dabang Delhi open their campaign against Telugu Titans on July 19 in Mumbai. The team will start its home matches at the Thyagraj Stadium on August 8 with Bengal Warriors being the first team to visit the Capital.