KOLKATA, July 16: Laggards Bengal Warriors revived their sinking hopes with a stunning 32-25 win over table toppers Jaipur Pink Panthers to begin their home leg in style in the Pro Kabaddi here today.
In a battle between the two teams at the opposite ends of the table, Bengal Warriors were brilliantly lifted by their Korean raider Jang Kun Lee, who scored 11 points en route to their only second win from nine matches this season.
Lee also hogged the limelight in the post-match presentation bagging three awards — Best Raider, Man of the Mat and Best Moment.
For the former champions Panthers, it was their second successive, and third overall, loss of the season as they now have 32 points from 10 matches.
Bengal Warriors have 16 points from nine matches.
Facing a must-win situation at the Netaji Indoor Stadium, the Kolkata franchise were locked 10-all after 13 minutes when Lee made an allout to hand them a five-point lead.
The Korean spearheaded their raids to perfection as they led 18-13 at the halfway mark and never looked in any trouble against the inaugural edition champions who were cheered by their Bollywood actor owner Abhishek Bachchan.
Warriors were also strong at the back, led by Nilesh Shinde, who was adjudged the Best Defender with four tackle points, while Surjeet Narwal gave an allround display with four raids and two tackle points.
In the second match of the evening, defending champions Patna Pirates climbed to the top of the table with a 34-24 win over U Mumba and put one foot in the semifinals.
In a match between the last edition’s finalists, Patna Pirates combined well with their tackle and raids to lead 19-08 at half time en route to their seventh victory this season.
Patna raided through the duo of Pardeep Narwal (eight) and Rajesh Mondal (four), while captain Dharmaraj Cheralathan and Kuldeep Singh were rock solid in defence and scored seven and four points including a super tackle each. (PTI)
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