Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], October 23 : One of the teams that has garnered the most amount of attention is the Haryana Steelers, who were the runners-up last year. While Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Season 11 has not begun in the manner in which they would have liked, the Haryana Steelers are upbeat and confident for the upcoming games.
Up next for the Haryana Steelers is the Jaipur Pink Panthers, and looking ahead to that, coach Manpreet Singh said that his side is fit and the training sessions are also going well.
"The team is fit and the mood in the camp is also very good. The training sessions are going well too and I believe the Haryana Steelers will do well in the game against the Jaipur Pink Panthers. Our key players are in good form, and we are confident of doing well in the next match," Manpreet was quoted in a release from PKL as saying.
"Our defence is still possibly one of our strongest departments this year as well. I believe that in the game against the Jaipur Pink Panthers, our raiders will also perform better, and the opposition has won two games, but we can defeat them," the coach said.
Manpreet Singh has been a part of the Indian kabaddi ecosystem for a long time. Reflecting on the progress of the sport, he said, "Kabaddi is very deeply rooted in Indian culture. Everyone has played the sport at some point or the other in their youth, whether it is the common man or PM Narendra Modi. Earlier, Kabaddi was largely restricted to certain pockets of the country, but since the Pro Kabaddi League has come about, thanks to Mashal Sports, the sport has spread out across the country, even to the big cities and education institutes. The game has received a lot of love from the country, and the sport can make a lot of progress in the future, and we can definitely go to the Olympic Games as well."
"After cricket, if there is any game that has caught the attention of the people across the country, it is Kabaddi. In the PKL, there are players from many countries, England, Iran and others, so when you play together, the skill levels also improve, and the international players have learnt a lot from our players as well and that is visible at the international level," he added.
A championship winner as a player with Patna Pirates, Manpreet Singh is definitely keen to win the PKL title as a coach. "It would be really nice to be able to win the PKL title with young and upcoming players. That is a dream for me and I want to win the PKL title as a coach for sure," he said.
The Haryana Steelers' coach also spoke about his ambitions in the sport. "By God's grace, I have got everything in life and things like money don't matter. Now the aim is to coach the Indian national team and win the PKL title as a coach," he signed off.