PKL Season 6: Meet Ruturaj Koravi - Gujarat's 'new' wall of defense

"Jai Bhavani! Jai Shivaji!" The Marathi players roared with this chant at the peak of their voices when Rishank Devadiga led Maharashtra to victory over Services in the Senior National Kabaddi Championship 2017-18 finals. Emotions ran high after Maharashtra ended their 11-year drought. Well what could you expect from a team that consisted of many veterans in the squad? Victory was definitely up for grabs.

The squad consisted of numerous experienced campaigners such as Rishank Devadiga, Nitin Madane, Girish Ernak, and the list goes on and on. However, there was this one defender in the right corner who was coming out of freshness. Yet he played majestically on the mat and let everybody know that his freshness wasn't a sign of bother for him. His name is Ruturaj Koravi.

Hailing from the beautiful city of Kolhapur, Maharashtra, Ruturaj Koravi was born on 4th January 1994. Ruturaj was passionate about wrestling and handball in his early years. His mother played Kabaddi as a national player and his father, Shri Shivaji Koravi has been a sportsperson in his prime.

His parents used to take him to local Kabaddi tournaments in a small village of Shiroli. Kabaddi was deeply engraved in the heart of Ruturaj. With an immense support from his family, Ruturaj started his Kabaddi career from the 35-40 kg weight class.

He went on to train hard with absolute devotion. The eagerness to do well paved the way for him to play for Mahindra team in Mumbai. Such dominating performance saw him book a place to play from Kolhapur district level and went on to represent Maharashtra at the state level.

Ruturaj's path towards glory was predetermined with the experience that Maharashtra carried before the tournament. Ruturaj outshined everybody with his brilliance on the mat. He depicted he had no fear when it came to defending. He supported Girish Ernak and excelled pretty well plunging on the opposition raiders. His brilliant defensive ability took out the team led by Pardeep Narwal, Uttarakhand.

In the quarterfinals, Rahul Chaudhari's Uttar Pradesh faced Maharashtra, a match which was actually broadcasted on TV. But only a few people saw why Ruturaj was the lynchpin of Maharashtra's defence. When raiders were failing to save the team from getting all out, Ruturaj gave 3 super tackles within the span of just 15 minutes in the first half!

His double knee holds on Rahul Chaudhari and Abhishek Singh were a delight to watch, his dashes were correctly timed. With pure overall brilliance on that day, Ruturaj scored 8 defensive points. Also, his support to Girish Ernak cannot be unrecognized which helped Maharashtra clinch the semi-final and final victory.

Ruturaj is able to conquer the raiders with his smart chain tackles and his forceful running block. He masters in understanding the raiding supremacy of the opposition. He excels well in super tackle opportunities and counters the attack with his perfectly timed double knee holds which are prideful.

Ruturaj Koravi will play the right corner donning the 'red yellow' jersey of Gujarat Fortune Giants in PKL 6!

Having been bought by the Gujarat Fortune Giants at a huge amount of ₹30.4 lakh rupees, Ruturaj dreams of making his parents proud did not go in vain at all. After giving almost 14 years of his career, Ruturaj Koravi has trained under Shri Namdev Gavde at the "Chhava Club" where he began his voyage en route to Kabaddi.

Coach Manpreet Singh who is an idol of Ruturaj was asked about his decision of letting the two Iranian corners; Fazel and Abozar go out of the team by the Ahmedabad Mirror. Surprisingly, a quiet, calm and composed Manpreet answered, "We are the most balanced side this season. We have players like Sachin Vittala and Ruturaj Koravi who can do the job. We are hoping the unknown factor that will give us the advantage."

Gujarat had a beastly defence that led them to the finals in their inaugural season itself. It'll be Ruturaj Koravi who will carry the reputation what was left by the Iranian corners. Ruturaj's improvisation in defence will definitely be a feast to the eyes in the upcoming season of the Pro Kabaddi League.