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The sport of kabaddi witnessed the close of another successful chapter in its book with the culmination of the 65th Senior National Kabaddi Championships that saw Maharashtra emerge as the well-deserved champions to kick-start a fabulous year.
Right through the tournament, the coalescence of youth and experience lit up the mat as the Pro Kabaddi League stars rubbed off their confidence on their team's upcoming talents as each match gave rise to some exciting moments.
Here are five such performers, who made a huge difference to their team's campaign and performed extremely well, especially after the round-robin stages.
#5 Rituraj Koravi [Maharashtra]
In the presence of some superstars such as Girish Ernak, Sachin Shingade and others in the Maharashtra defence, the youngster took up the responsibility of bringing down the defenders on his young shoulders and impressed thoroughly with his fearlessness on the mat.
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After a good show right through the round-robin stages that aided Maharashtra's entry in the quarterfinals against Uttarakhand, Rituraj asserted his dominance against the Pardeep Narwal-led side on the day that also happened to be his birthday.
Understanding the game and playing to his full potential, the defender produced some fine super tackles in crucial stages of the game to seal a spot for his team in the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals and the finals, Rituraj started and although he did not overperform his other seniors in the team, his support in the defence unit did not go unnoticed as Maharashtra went on to clinch the title in the end.
#4 Girish Maruti Ernak [Maharashtra]
After a successful Pro Kabaddi League stint with the Puneri Paltan, Ernak was surely set to play a major part in Maharashtra's defence and he did exactly that, bringing all his experience and strength into play which made the raiders' job that much tougher.
Holding fort on the left corner for Maharashtra, Girish Ernak's mighty presence in the line-up rubbed on his teammates as they pounced on opposition raiders, which was often orchestrated by Girish's war cry on the mat.
In the semifinals against Karnataka, Ernak excelled and earned a High 5 to his name, fearlessly putting in strong holds and dashing the Karnataka men off the court to secure his team a place in the finals.
In the finals, he yet again picked a High 5, underlining his importance to the Maharashtra team and was one of the major driving factors that led his team to the title in the end.
#3 Prashant Rai [Karnataka]
The lanky raider was in his element right throughout the tournament and was one of the biggest benefactors of Karnataka's campaign this season. After a moderately successful Pro Kabaddi League Season 5, Prashant Rai started for Karnataka ahead of the likes of K. Prapanjan and Harish Naik and performed up to expectations.
In the quarterfinals against Uttarakhand, Prashant Rai blazed through the opposition's defence, picking up 20 points that halted Uttarakhand's charge. Gifted with a lanky frame and good reach, Prashant single-handedly led Karnataka into the semi-finals against Maharashtra where he started off in fine fashion that gave Karnataka the required confidence to tackle the Maharashtra-sized challenge.
He also played a crucial role in his side's upset of the Services in the group stages, where he was simply unstoppable.
#2 Monu Goyat [Services]
Representing Services for the championships, Monu Goyat was undoubtedly one of the biggest takeaways with his mature style of raiding complementing his aggressive method of play.
Raiding alongside the likes of Nitin Tomar and Ajay Kumar, Monu's consistency earned him the lead raider's tag although Tomar was a formidable presence in the line-up. Against a star-studded Haryana setup in the semifinals, Monu took up the onus on himself to resurrect his team's slide owing to Tomar's inability to get past the defence.
The Patna Pirates raider exhibited top-class raiding to collect eight points to his name in Services' 32-28 victory that sealed them a spot in the finals. Against Maharashtra, Monu dealt in two points per raid and was solely responsible to keep Services in the hunt and his super raid in the start set the tone for a cracker of a contest.
After back to back two point raids, Monu collected an all-important Super-10 to his name but in the end, it did not suffice as Maharashtra won the contest.
#1 Rishank Devadiga [Maharashtra]
Leading any side in a sport is certainly not a facile task. Leading the side in terms of performance is an even better achievement, something that Rishank Devadiga brought to the fore with his exceptional show right through the competition.
After an impressive performance in the quarterfinals, Rishank led his side into the semifinals against Karnataka and started slow but soon picked pace with constant touch points. Rishank's efficiency saw Maharashtra gaining the lead after an initial deficit but what stood out was the Maharashtra skipper's buzzer raid that took his team into the finals.
With the scores tied and the last raid turning out to be a do-or-die raid, Rishank took up the responsibility and dished out a clinical running hand touch to trigger wild celebrations on the mat. In the final too, Rishank was in his element and amassed a total of 18 raid points, including a super raid on the buzzer, thus scoring more than half of his team's total as he led his team to the title.
