Rising raider Rishank Devadiga, captain of the UP Yoddha franchise for the sixth season of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), commencing October 7, exuded confidence about improving his side's fifth-place finish on debut.
The franchise also announced a change of their home turf from Lucknow in their debut season in 2017, to the state-of-the-art Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex at Greater Noida for their domestic leg that runs from November 2-8.
"Our team composition is very nice this time. We trained hard for the upcoming season. We have some good raiders and defenders so fans can expect good results from us," Rishank said after the team's jersey unveiling session.
Coupled with a new TV campaign with the slogan 'Saans Rok, Seena Thok', the UP Yoddha franchise boasts of a strong squad that includes seven raiders led by Rishank.
The other raiders in the side are Azad Singh, Bhanu Tomar, Prashanth Kumar Rai, Rohit Kumar Choudhary, Shrikant Jadhav and Sulieman Kabir while the defence will be handled by Nitin Mavi, Nitesh Kumar, Jeeva Kumar, Amit, Vishav Chaudhary, Pankaj, Sachin Kumar and Aashish Nagar.
The four all-rounders in the squad are Akram Shaikh, Narendra, Sagar Krishna and South Korean Seong Ryeol Kim.
UP Yoddha begin their PKL-6 season in Chennai against hosts Tamil Thalaivas on October 8.
Here is the full squad of UP Yoddha for PKL 2018:
Player Name | Defender/All rounder/Raider |
Rishank Devadiga | Raider |
Azad Singh | Raider |
Bhanu Pratap Tomar | Raider |
Prashanth Kumar Rai | Raider |
Rohit Kumar Choudary | Raider |
Shrikant Jadhav | Raider |
Sulieman Kabir | Raider |
Nitin Mavi | Defender, right cover |
Nitesh Kumar | Defender, right corner |
Jeeva Kumar | Defender, right and left cover |
Amit | Defender, left cover |
Vishav Chaudhary | Defender, left cover |
Pankaj | Defender, left corner |
Sachin Kumar | Defender, left corner |
Arkam Shaikh | All rounder |
Narender | All rounder |
Sagar B Krishna | All rounder |
Seong Ryeal Kim | All rounder |