PKL | Chennai’s love for kabaddi in full view at Nehru Stadium

After 12 days of fiery raids and powerful tackles at the Nehru Indoor Stadium came to an end here on Friday, the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Season 12 caravan moves to the fourth and final leg at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex in New Delhi from Saturday even as the fight for a place in play-offs (top eight) has intensified.

With the fans thronging in huge numbers — the average turnout on a day has been around 3512 (stadium capacity of 6000). The capital city will host the remaining matches, including the final, on October 31.

Chennai’s love for kabaddi was in full view, the stadium was nearly at full capacity, even for some matches not involving Tamil Thalaivas.

Arun Boopathy, an athletics coach at Kendriya Vidyalaya (IIT Madras), has watched all the seasons of PKL and enjoyed being at the stadium here for three match-days.

“Kabaddi is a sport that celebrates bravery (Veera Vilaiyattu). I hail from Ramanathapuram district where it is very popular. Many sportspersons have been employed through sports quota from kabaddi. Former PKL player Pardeep Narwal is my favourite. I started watching the sport because of him,” he said.

Explaining why people came in huge numbers, Arun said: “Players from Tamil Nadu have been really good. Though they play for different teams people come to watch them.”

Another fan Vamsi Kodali along with his daughter Sitara from Vijayawada travelled to Chennai to support their favourite team Telugu Titans. “There is lot of support for Titans here. The sport has become very popular now. Our favourite player is Vijay Malik (Titans).”

For 16-year-old P. Monish, this was his first PKL match at the stadium.

“I wanted to see the players in action. That’s why I came. I think the huge turnout is because Chennai is hosting PKL after a gap of two years (Season 10 in 2022-23),” he said.

Kabaddi and Tamil Nadu have a deep historical connect, and the turnout at the Nehru Indoor Stadium was just a small indication.