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London, 9 August 2014: The inauguration of the Wave World Kabaddi League saw an exciting start today here in London at the O2 Arena. The opening ceremony started with a glittering performance by the local artists from London including the Punjabi folk dance – bhangra – and an ariel show. The inaugural match saw United Singhs defeating Punjab Thunder by 68-51.
Punjab Thunder started the match on a high note but United Singhs came back strongly in the 2nd minute of the game and took a 3-2 lead. Both the teams defended very well in the game and by end of the first quarter the score was 11-11.
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In the second quarter of the match United Singhs completely took over and made life difficult for Punjab Thunder. The raiders and stoppers from both the teams played well. United Singhs star raider Gurinder Singh overpowered Punjab Thunder stoppers and by the end of the half time United Singhs had a 30-26 lead.
The beginning of the third quarter saw very interesting turning points. Both the teams showcased strong raids and sturdy stopping efforts. The raids from Gagandeep Singh and Gurvinderpal Singh built a strong position for the United Singhs.
The raiders from Punjab Thunder, Anil Kumar and Manjeet Singh a.k.a. Fidu struggled but tried their best to give a tough fight and made every effort to reduce the points difference. On the other hand, United Singhs were playing brilliant kabaddi and by the end of the third quarter they took a 10-point lead against Punjab Thunder with the score moving to 49-39.
The fourth quarter started with strong defence from United Singhs. The star raiders of Punjab Thunder – Anil Kumar and Tinku – performed extremely well and tried to bring back their team to a strong position, but some weak points like double touch and less consistency of a few players pushed the team on the backfoot.
The injury-induced exits of star raider of Punjab Thunders Manjeet Singh aka Fidu landed the team in trouble and gave United Singhs a strong win with a difference of 17 points; the final score was 68-51.
