Interview with Surjeet Narwal: "I didn't envision Pro Kabaddi League to become this big"

Surjeet Narwal

Hailing from a village which has produced the most medalists in kabaddi at the Asian level, Surjeet Narwal didn’t have to look too far for inspiration. That said though, this 24-year-old has super ceded what his peers from Sonepat had achieved before – a gold medalist from the Incheon Asian Games, he has been exemplary to say the least for the national team so far.

In the inaugural season of the Premier Kabaddi League (PKL) too, he was clinical for Dabang Delhi, finishing with 113 points and was ranked among the top 5 raiders across all 8 franchisees. Looking forward to the 2nd edition, he believes the team has bonded really and can only move upward from last year’s performance.

Here are the excerpts:

Q. Congratulations on a brilliant opening season with the Delhi Dabangs. How do you look back at that?

The 1st edition of the PKL took me by surprise. I really didn’t envision this kind of success and it’s almost a little overwhelming, how the masses have taken to our sport over such a short period of time. Earlier, kids in our village aspired to play for the national team, suddenly a much bigger chunk wants to play in the league. It has definitely proved to be a boon for kabaddi.

About our performance, I think the fact that Ravinder (Singh) and Rakesh (Singh) could join the team only in the 2nd half of the tournament last year hindered our progress. That being said, we are a lot better prepared this year – all the raiders seem to be in great touch and that should be key to doing really well.

Q. Any specific goals for this year then?

Only one, the Dabangs should reach the finals and eventually hold the trophy aloft, come the 25th of August.

Q. There were some injury concerns for you coming in to the tournament; any niggles that you might still be carrying?

I did suffer a sprain in my back at the Trivandrum National Games, but then that was in February. Since then the Dabangs have brought in Dr. Sandeep Kumar and he has helped me a lot. I feel a lot better and am in my best possible shape.

Q. The league starts in 4 days time; do you think the team’s prepared enough to fulfill your ambition of lifting the cup?

Definitely, we have a new coach and the team has gelled really well under him. As you would notice this is our 3rd camp together this year. We now are a much more cohesive unit and as I mentioned, I have enough belief in my teammates that together we can end Delhi’s title drought.