Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Five talking points from Day 66 of PKL 5

Rishank Devadiga (right) absolutely stole the show

#5 Adieu, Navneet Gautam!

Navneet Gautam had given his heart and soul to the sport of kabaddi for nearly two decades. The defender’s glittering career saw him win multiple gold medals in the Asian Games, the Asian Indoor Games and the World Cup. He led the Jaipur Pink Panthers to their only title in the first season of the Pro Kabaddi League.

The man, who dedicated himself selflessly to the sport, played his final professional kabaddi match on Thursday. It was probably not the way he would have liked to bow out. He could not contribute any point nor could his team win and he was even shown a green card. But that does not take anything away from the man, who has been one of the stalwarts of Indian kabaddi for many years now.

About the author

Sudeshna is a veteran Indian Sports and International Tennis journalist as well as editor at Sportskeeda. She has an overall experience of over 10 years with top publications like The Bridge, Fox Sports Asia, and gained a keen interest in Indian sports since the 2002 Commonwealth and Asian Games when she was in school.

Sudeshna holds a Master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. She attends tournaments regularly and being a highly experienced journalist, she ensures she only contacts the correct people from her network for the most authentic information to be put in her articles.

Sudeshna’s favorite Indian athlete is PV Sindhu owing to her big-tournament performances. She also admires Tennis legend Rafael Nadal for his resilience and has witnessed the Spaniard in action at the French Open, due to which, Roland Garros is her all-time favorite Grand Slam tournament.

Neeraj Chopra’s gold medal win at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics made a lasting impact on Sudeshna. She has also interviewed him along with Badminton star Chirag Shetty and several other sports personalities. She has done on-ground reporting on multiple ITF tournaments along with the Premier Badminton League, Asian Boxing Championships and the Davis Cup.

When not using her skills and years of experience in crafting compelling content, Sudeshna likes to read, watch movies and travel.

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Edited by Sudeshna Banerjee