‘Dreamt of being part of Pro Kabaddi League since season 1’: English players on PKL’s impact internationally

English kabaddi players Felix Li and Yuvraj Pandeya achieved their dream of being a part of the Pro Kabaddi League in the recently concluded tenth edition of the tournament. The Pro Kabaddi League season 10 was held from December 2, 2023, to March 1 2024 across 12 cities.

Speaking about his experience at the Pro Kabaddi League, Felix said, “The experience at PKL was amazing because Kabaddi is not so big in England. I always dreamt of being a part of PKL as I’ve been following it since Season 1. I never thought I would be part of the Pro Kabaddi League.”

Meanwhile, Yuvraj spoke about his journey from watching matches on TV to gracing the PKL stadiums, “It’s a completely different experience. On TV, all you see is 40 minutes of action, whereas in the PKL, you get the full experience of being able to play with, and against, the best of the best in the world. We have played in a few international tournaments, but it’s not of this size and level.”

When asked about how he started playing kabaddi, Yuvraj said, “I started playing Kabaddi with a local Hindu group at a young age. During a local tournament, the England Kabaddi team captain saw me perform and said, ‘you play well, come train with us.’ One thing led to the other, and now I play for England.”

Meanwhile, Felix spoke about how he stumbled on to the sport, “I joined a kabaddi club during my first year in my university. I made some catches in my first training session and I really like the players in the group. I continued to play the game there and eventually found a place in the England side and thereafter in a PKL team.”

With Felix and Yuvraj making it to the big league, they want to see more of their international teammates in the PKL.

“If given a chance, more interested Kabaddi players from England will come out. Our presence in PKL will give confidence and motivation to the other English players. Hopefully, we will see more Englishmen in the future,” said Yuvraj.