Pro Kabaddi League: 5 legendary moves and their inventors

Jeeva Kumar has mastered ‘the spear’

“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” – Bruce Lee.

In a sport that involves rigid systems, especially in the defensive department, unpredictability usually takes precedence over the tried and tested. But at the same time, mastering a move can reap enormous benefits.

Over the course of four seasons of Pro Kabaddi League, we’ve seen a handful of talented players attempt and perfect certain moves, which in the long run have turned into money spinners. Let’s take a look at some of these moves.

#1 The spear

Whether it’s the pundits, the coaches or the players, the spear has rarely been talked about and understandably so. Till date, only two defenders in the league have been efficient with the spear – Former U Mumba man, Jeeva Kumar, now plying this trade at Uttar Pradesh and Iranian, Fazel Atrachali, who will play for Gujarat this season.

Both these defenders have extremely wide torsos and a low centre of gravity – an essential prerequisite for anyone attempting this move. More often than not, it’s usually executed in a 1v1 situation when your teammates fail to tackle the raider and you’re the only player he has to get past.

In such an instance, Jeeva and Fazel dive in head first towards the raider, using their shoulders they target the hips and take the raider down using sheer brute force.