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Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: 5 players who came from humble backgrounds and made it big

Selvamani K will play for the Jaipur Pink Panthers in the fifth season

Kabaddi is all set to embark on a bigger journey later on this month, all ready to stage the fifth edition of the Pro Kabaddi League which will witness four new teams come into the fold with more than 130 matches to be played in 12 cities across India. 

The native sport has seen a complete transformation in its identity in the last three years and has grown to be a multi-million dollar sport accounting for one of the largest viewership bases in India, second only to cricket. 

In it’s journey to the pinnacle of success, kabaddi has primarily touched the lives of its fellow players in more ways than one. It has given a new lease of life to a whole new generation in terms of recognition, growth and more importantly financial rewards.

Players who were unknown despite winning international accolades for the nation are now greeted by the paparazzi each time they step out of the confines of their homes or hotel rooms. 

We look at five such players who came from humble backgrounds but made it big in the Pro Kabaddi League:

#5 Selvamani K (Jaipur Pink Panthers)

The young gun was signed by the Abhishek Bachchan owned franchise for a whopping 73 lakh in the auctions that took place a month ago, but it was not too long ago that he was playing kabaddi for his club in Tamil Nadu. The player has seen an upward trajectory in his career ever since he sought professional training in the kabaddi Tamil Nadu Amateur Kabaddi Association (TAKA) while he was in the final year of his diploma course in Mechanical Engineering.

To support Selvamani’s training, his elder brother had to sacrifice his own education, a deed that he will be proud of now when the younger brother is scaling new heights in PKL. But at the heart of it all, Selvamani is still the same, simple lad from a small town of Salem who utilised his price money to pay off his family debts and going forward, aspires to build a house and arrange his sister’s marriage while still posted as a clerk with the South Central Railways. 

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