IMPERIAL 2s FALL THROUGH AGAINST TOUGH COMPETITION IN THEIR GROUP

After creating history at London Zone this year, teams were ready to fight back against the Imperial 2's at Nationals.

Imperial 2s first match was against Brunel/Westminster, who they previously beat at London Zone. The Brunel defence proved to be very conservative with their tackling. Kisan Sockalingam proved to be an important raiding asset against this team. Brunel achieved an all out against Imperial in the second half and went on to win but not before Dan George executed an excellent tackle against experienced Brunel raider Brijjy.

The second match was against a very physical Aston team. Knowing victory was likely to be necessary in this game the Imperial raiders were more risky in the initial stages but were met by unforgiving tackles from the Aston defence. Down to three players, Kisan Sockalingam executed an outstanding super tackle which was superbly supported by Vinay Maniam and Sharukh Zuberi. Aston replied with their own super tackle soon after this as the game was shifting in the favour of Imperial. Both Parminder Singh and Kisan Sockalingam put in excellent second half raiding performances, though Aston went on to win the game.

The final game was against King's B Team. With the glimmer of hope that Imperial could go through as the best second place team to the knockout stages, the team roused themselves to give one more performance. The game started in Imperial's favour with a quick all out. The crowd was treated to exemplary examples of leg-grab tackles from Kush Kohli. A combination of both aggressive tackling and raiding from captain, Muhesh Taheem, contributed to a healthy score total. Excellent tackling from both Prajesh Jadeja and Kisan Sockalingam enabled the Imperial team to continue dominating defensively throughout the game.

Imperial's kabaddi club is full of talent, dedication and experience. Much of this was on display at this years national's tournament. The Imperial 2s team displayed some of the talent from this years fresher's intake as well as great performances from some more experienced players. But what felt more tangible in the 2s team through discussion with some of their players was the essence of camaraderie. This is more than a collection of individuals and is now a unit that wants to work together and grow. Until next year.