Indian national kabaddi player Nitesh Kumar has learnt Kabaddi from his family and the 27-year-old is carrying on the legacy. The wily defender holds the record for the most tackle points by a player in a single season. He scored 100 tackle points in 25 matches of PKL 6after making his debut in earlier season with UP Yoddhas.
He has scored overall 409 tackle points in 150 PKL matches 3rdon the all time list of PKL Website following Iranian Fazel Atrachali (545) and PO Surjeet Singh (443). His next best effort of 75 points was in season 7 where he honed the leadership skills also to help Yoddhas to playoffs. His performance dipped a bit in Season 9 and 10 by his earlier standards and left Yodhas after spending six seasons.
He made a revival last season with 59 tackle points for his new franchise Bengal Warriorz. Now in his eighth PKL season after Warriorz used Final Bid Match (FBM) to retain him, he is aiming for a better show.
“I continued my practice and concentrated on fitness during the off season which included strengthening training to avoid injuries. We have been training for two months here and I have improved my skills. I had a good last season and I want to contribute more,” said Nitesh who is currently stationed at Navi Mumbai Sports Association, Vashi where the Bengal Warriorz franchise is training for the PKL 12 starting on August 29.
“We have a young team, and have added a good raider (Devank Dalal) to give more depth to the squad. We have also studied the old videos and want to avoid mistakes. Last time we couldn't make it to the playoffs but this time we are determined to qualify for playoffs and play in the final,” he added.
Nitesh was part of the Indian team that won the gold medal at the 2022 Asian Games. He emulated the effort of his uncle Sukhvir Singh Sangwan who was part of the Indian team that won Asian Games gold in 2006. That gold medal winning effort from his uncle inspired the nine-year-old Nitesh to take up the sport seriously.
Hailing from Adampur Dhadi, Haryana, he started taking coaching from his father Sanjay Kumar, a Kabaddi coach, who served Border Security Force (BSF) for 26 years. “Kabaddi came to me from my family. My grandfather was a renowned Kabaddi player in his area. I started kabaddi after seeing my uncle (in the Asian Games) then I took strict coaching from my father. I became more disciplined and determined and knew from the start that doing well in kabaddi is the ultimate aim and winning gold for India,” he said during an exclusive interaction.
