Pro Kabaddi League
Current season, competition or edition: 2016 Pro Kabaddi League season | |
|
Logo of Pro Kabaddi League | |
| Sport | Kabaddi |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2014 |
| Inaugural season | 2014 |
| Owner(s) | Mashal Sports |
| Director | Charu Sharma |
| Motto | 'Jeethta hai wohi jo haar naa maane' |
| No. of teams | 8 |
| Country |
 India |
| Venue(s) | 8 locations |
| Most titles |
Jaipur Pink Panthers U Mumba Patna Pirates (1 title each) |
| TV partner(s) | STAR Sports |
| Sponsor(s) | STAR Sports |
| Official website |
prokabaddi |
The Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) is a professional kabaddi league in India, based on the format of the Indian Premier League T20 cricket tournament.[1] It is known as the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi for sponsorship reasons. The first edition of the tournament was played in 2014 with eight franchises representing various cities in India. It is currently managed by Mashal Sports.[2]
History
The Pro Kabaddi League is a professional kabaddi league founded in 2014. It is formulated as an eight-city league played in a "caravan format," traveling together to all 8 venues to play a total of 60 Matches. It is an initiative of Mashal Sports, a company which was co-founded by Mr. Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group and Mr. Charu Sharma, who is also a director of Mashal Sports.[3] Star India acquired a 74% stake in Mashal Sports, and now has control over the entire league as a majority owner of Mashal Sports. Mashal Sports has acquired the rights to organize the league for a period of 10 years from International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) with an option to renew it further.[4]
Broadcasting rights
Star Sports was named as the official broadcaster in May 2014 with the online rights going to Starsports.com. In 2015, hotstar.com and starsports.com were the online broadcaster for Prokabaddi.[5]
2014 Season
The first signing and auction of players for the 8 teams was held on 20 May 2014[5] in Mumbai. India's national kabaddi captain Rakesh Kumar was the priciest among the players bought for ₹12.80 lakh by the Patna Pirates. Sports Authority of India's Deepak Nivas was bought by Vizag franchise for ₹12.90 lakh.[5] Mostafa Noudehi was the highest paid overseas player bought for ₹6.6 lakh by Pune franchise.[6]
The duration of the season was from 26 July 2014 to 31 August 2014. There was double round robin matches along with two semi finals, third place and final games. 56 games were to be played in first round and 4 in play off stage making total of 60 games. 8 teams took part in first edition. First game was played on July 26 between U Mumba and Jaipur Pink Panthers and the final was played on August 31 at Mumbai. Jaipur Pink Panthers beat U Mumba by 35-24 to win the inaugural Pro Kabaddi League.[7]
2015 Season
Star Sports Pro Kabaddi season 2 was from July 18 to 23 August 2015. They were a total of 60 matches played these season with two semifinals, a third place play-off and a final. First game was played on July 18 between U Mumba and Jaipur Pink Panthers and the final was played on August 23 at Mumbai between U Mumba and Bengaluru Bulls. U Mumba beat Bengaluru Bulls by 36-30 to win the 2015 season of Pro Kabaddi League.[8] U Mumba stood first, Bengaluru Bulls stood second and Telugu Titans stood on third position in the league.
2016 Season
January - February - March
Star Sports Pro Kabaddi Season 3 will have two editions. The COO of Star India, Mr. Sanjay Gupta confirmed that Star Sports Pro Kabaddi wants to make Pro Kabaddi, a 5-week event, happen 10 weeks a year by having two editions a year. The idea is to play the tournament once in January–February 2016 and once in June–July 2016. It also had 8 teams. Patna Pirates beat U Mumba by 3 Points to take home the trophy. Puneri Paltan came third this season.
June - July
The fourth season will take place from June 25 to July 31, with the existing eight teams participating.
Surprising returns as Maninder Singh the hero of PKL season 1 will be seen in new jersey to strengthen the unstoppable U Mumba.
Viewership
As per the available data of the opening 2 weeks, Star Sports Pro Kabaddi viewership on TV increased by nearly 56% from the 2014 year’s viewership. During the inaugural season tournament viewership was 43.5 crore(435 million) viewers, which was the second in India after the 56 crore(560 million) of IPL viewership.
The online viewership also increased 1.3 crore unique visitors, which is 18.5 times than of last year’s 7 lakh unique visitors.
The third season which was flagged off on 30 January, recorded a surge in viewership with the opening week ratings 36 per cent higher than the week one viewership for its last season.[9]
Franchises
Stadium and locations
|
Personnel & Kit
| Teams | Owners | Captain | Head coach | Kit Manufacturer | Kit Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bengal Warriors | Future Group | Nilesh Shinde | Raj Narain Sharma | TYKA Sports | Pitanjali @Big Bazaar |
| Bengaluru Bulls | Kosmik Global Media | Surjeet Narwal | Randhir Singh | Fieldgear | Maheshwara |
| Dabang Delhi KC | Radha Kapoor | Ravindher Pahal | Honnappa C. Gowda | Fieldgear | NA |
| Jaipur Pink Panthers | Abhishek Bachchan | Jasvir Singh | Kasinathan Baskaran | dida | Magic Bus |
| Patna Pirates | Rajesh Shah | Manpreet Singh | R S Khokhar | BEE | Revital |
| Puneri Paltan | Insurekot Sports | Manjeet Chillar | Ashok Shinde | dida | Kotak |
| Telugu Titans | Veera Sports | Rahul Choudhary | Dr. Ramesh Bhendigiri | Fieldgear | Greenko |
| U Mumba | Unilazer Sports | Anup Kumar | Ravi Shetty, Bhaskaran | Adidas | Zenon |
Tournament results
Out of the eight teams that have played in the Star pro kabaddi League, three have won it once each. The Jaipur Pink Panthers, U Mumba, Patna Pirates are the most successful teams in league's history.
| Season | Final | Final venue | # of Teams | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | Result | Runner-up | |||
| 2014 | Jaipur Pink Panthers 35 Points |
Jaipur won by 11 Points Report |
U Mumba 24 Points |
National Sports Club of India, Mumbai | 8 |
| 2015 | U Mumba 36 Points |
U Mumba won by 6 Points Report |
Bengaluru Bulls 30 Points |
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Indoor Stadium, Mumbai | 8 |
| 2016 January |
Patna Pirates 31 Points |
Patna Pirates won by 3 points Report |
U Mumba 28 Points |
Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, New Delhi | 8 |
| 2016 June |
TBD |
TBD Report |
TBD |
TBD | 8 |
By team
| Team | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 Jan |
2016 June |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| U Mumba | R | W | R | |
| Jaipur Pink Panthers | W | 5th | 6th | |
| Patna Pirates | 3rd | 4th | W | |
| Bengaluru Bulls | 4th | R | 7th | |
| Telugu Titans | 5th | 3rd | 5th | |
| Dabang Delhi | 6th | 7th | 8th | |
| Bengal Warriors | 7th | 6th | 4th | |
| Puneri Paltan | 8th | 8th | 3rd |
Team Performance
| Team | Played | Win | Lost | Tied | %win | %lost | %tied | Best |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dabang Delhi KC | 42 | 10 | 29 | 3 | 23.80% | 69.04% | 7.16% | 6th |
| Bengaluru Bulls | 46 | 20 | 25 | 1 | 43.47% | 54.35% | 2.18% | Runners Up |
| Jaipur Pink Panthers | 44 | 22 | 18 | 4 | 50.00% | 40.91% | 9.09% | Champion |
| U Mumba | 48 | 36 | 9 | 3 | 75.00% | 18.75% | 6.25% | Champion |
| Bengal Warriors | 44 | 17 | 25 | 2 | 38.63% | 56.82% | 4.55% | 4th |
| Telugu Titans | 44 | 22 | 16 | 6 | 50.00% | 36.36% | 13.64% | 3rd |
| Patna Pirates | 48 | 27 | 16 | 5 | 56.25% | 33.33% | 10.42% | Champion |
| Puneri Paltan | 44 | 12 | 28 | 4 | 27.27% | 63.63% | 9.10% | 3rd |
| Total | 360 | 166 | 166 | 28 | 46.11% | 46.11% | 7.78% |
References
- ↑ "'Patna Pirates' Join Pro Kabaddi League; Team Logo Unveiled". PatnaDaily.com. 7 June 2014. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
- ↑ Monday, May 26, 2014 (2014-05-21). "Pro Kabaddi League auction sees big spends on national players". Business Standard. Retrieved 2014-05-26.
- ↑ "About: ProKabaddi.com — Official Website for the Pro Kabaddi League". ProKabaddi.com. 2014-03-09. Retrieved 2014-05-26.
- ↑ "Star India acquires 74% stake in Pro Kabaddi owner Mashal Sports | TelevisionPost.com". www.televisionpost.com. Retrieved 2016-01-03.
- 1 2 3 "Pro Kabaddi league fixes players' auction on May 20 - The Times of India". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 2014-05-17. Retrieved 2014-05-26.
- ↑ Special Correspondent (2014-05-21). "Rakesh Kumar gets the highest bid". The Hindu. Retrieved 2014-05-26.
- ↑ "Jaipur Pink panthers, champions". sportskeeda.com. 22 June 2015.
- ↑ "Pro Kabaddi season2-results".
- ↑ "Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League season 3 ratings rise by 36%". Indian Television Dot Com. Retrieved 2016-02-28.
- ↑ "Official Website for the Pro Kabaddi League". ProKabaddi.com. 2014-03-09. Retrieved 2014-05-26.
External links
- Prokabaddi 2016: Analytics Led Insights
- Official Website
- Pro Kabaddi League on Facebook
- Pro Kabaddi League on Twitter
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