MEN'S KABADDI WINTER REVIEW
- Oishik Raha
- Dec 23, 2016
- 3 min read
HITTING THE MATS RUNNING IN THE WINTER OF 2016
IC Kabaddi Club has come leaps and bounds since its establishment in the autumn of 2013. When two key players, Keshav and Josh were absent for the start of term, we didn't hound them for their lack of commitment. Instead the England boys (along with Milan and Felix) inspired the club to raise the bar even further.
The record-breaking 45 players that turned up for the first kabaddi session of the season convinced me that 2016 was going to be a thrilling year of kabaddi. The freshers really proved their merits in the 'freshers' tournament' with a win against LSE (36-34). The close loss to Kings (41-46) provided vital motivation for the experienced players to exact a revenge in the subsequent 'seniors' tournament'. The 1sts delivered as promised with wins against both Kings (47-12) and LSE (35-21).
Spirits were high and the Imperial boys were confident going into the Kabaddi Cup. The 2nds were captained by newly appointed Muhesh, who took his role seriously from the get-go subjecting his team to a 7am "breakfast meeting". Regardless, the 2nd team faced stiff competition from LSE 1sts (15-23), the powerhouse, Aston (13-30), and UoB 2nds (27-19). Although defeated, Muhesh was determined to turn around the 2nds performance in tournaments to come. In the other group stages, the 1sts strolled through with wins against Kings (19-7), UoB 1sts (28-7) and LSE 2nds (29-13) to face Aston in the semi-finals. Clearly, we'd gotten complacent when massive super raids brought the score to a tie near the closing moments of the game. In the most nail-biting game of my kabaddi career, Imperial clinched a win in the closing moments (29-28). Comparatively, the final against LSE 1sts was a breeze (31-15). That semi-final against Aston really was a humbling experience that reminded us that the competition was close on our heels.
After a renewed effort, the 2nds pulled of a historic set of victories against London rivals, Kings 1sts (25-14) and Brunel (11-8) to qualify for the semi-finals of the NHSF London Zone Tournament. Questionable refereeing or not, multiple records were broken by the 2nds: a Sandeep Narwal in-the-making (i.e. cover defender Kisan) scored the first 'high five'; Mr. Cautious, Sharukh, bagged the largest super raid with 6 points and surprised himself more than the audience! When the 1sts qualified later that day, it was set to be an unprecedented intra-Imperial semi-final but poor organisation from NHSF thwarted, what would have been, an intense battle for pride and bragging rights between the Imperial teams. To end the day, a short (literally only 6 minutes) final against LSE 1sts (8-7) saw Imperial victorious.
As Christmas approached, the competitive schedule drew to a close and Imperial finished on a 40-minute ProKabaddi style friendly match between teams Aussie Express (led by Roland) and Com-Pete (led by Pete). It was a truly entertaining encounter with a myriad of memorable plays like impressive, athletic jumps over oncoming chain tackles, raiders face palming into floors and cameramen's balls, super tackles, dislocated shoulders, agile escape points and even players forgetting where the midline was. It was the perfect match: competitive, thrilling to watch and a real showcase to end the Winter Term.
Training together this term has been an absolute blast. We've worked hard and reaped the rewards. Next term is going to be big - scratch that, huge! New kit, nationals and varsity are lined up for the spring term. So rest up, enjoy your roast dinners and time away with family and get ready for an amazing year ahead.
I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
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