"For my height, it is tough to weigh below 85kg and that impacted my raiding" - Telugu Titans star raider Siddharth Desai on Pro Kabaddi 2022 challenges

Pro Kabaddi star raider Siddharth Desai endured a tough outing in the Telugu Titans' PKL 9 season opener, registering only four points from the 10 raids he put in against home team Bengaluru Bulls at the Sree Kanteerva Stadium in Bengaluru.

Desai's lofty standards stem from an outstanding PKL debut in season 6, where U Mumba unleashed the tall raider as their trump card - a hype on which he delivered splendidly, troubling the best of defenders to register 218 raid points in 21 matches.

On the back of a marvellous debut, Desai was signed by the Telugu Titans for a whopping ₹1.45 Crore in the PKL 7 auction. He repaid the faith invested in him by finishing as the 4th best raider, accumulating 217 raid points from 22 matches.

The Titans, in the next PKL auction, utilized their 'Final Bid Match' card to re-sign Desai for ₹1.30 Crore, but an unfortunate shoulder injury put a premature end to his Pro Kabaddi 2021 campaign after just three matches.

Despite lack of match practice and his absence from the Nationals over the past year, the Titans were successful in their base price bid and signed Desai for ₹30 lakh in this August's Pro Kabaddi auction, hoping to see a repeat performance from PKL season 6 or season 7 from the star raider.

In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda, Desai explained the challenges of making a comeback from injury and issues with losing weight, while also thanking the Titans for retaining faith in his abilities.

"Making a comeback after an injury is tough, I am confident that if given time I can do very well for the team. But I mainly want to thank the Telugu Titans for giving me another opportunity. I picked up an injury last season but they have trusted me again. I have worked hard on my fitness and in training, you will see it on the mat soon."

"Full control over water and eating is not at all easy" - Siddharth Desai

Desai's journey back onto the mat after a major injury that ruled him out of the PKL 7 season is one riddled with more complications. For those uninitiated, the Pro Kabaddi League has a rule that all players taking part have to weigh below 85kg mandatorily.

In Desai's case, since he is blessed with almost zero body fat, all the muscle weight adds up to close to 85kg on its own, and he has to focus more on his food and water intake daily.

In his own words, that's not an ideal situation, and the lack of time for recovery after the weigh-in process dented his ability to do well on the mat against the Bulls.

"I personally feel for my height it is tough to weight below 85kg and that impacted my raiding. I have no fat in my body, I have to fully keep an eye on how much water I drink and what I eat. Our first match was immediately the next day after the weigh in, so I had no time to recover."

"Hopefully in the coming days I will have more time to recover, and that will help me a lot in doing well on the mat. Also, because this is the 4th season I am playing, people know my main skills so I am working on getting better."

One thing's for sure, Desai is among the many PKL stars comprising the Telugu Titans squad for Pro Kabaddi 2022. Partnering Monu Goyat, Abhishek Singh and Rajnish on the raiding front, the Titans star raider will be eager to find his feet soon and propel his side towards what's been an elusive Pro Kabaddi title.