"They get to learn something from us" - Pawan Sehrawat credits PKL for rise of kabaddi globally [Exclusive]
Indian national team skipper Pawan Sehrawat started his captaincy stint leading India to the title at the Asian Kabaddi Championship 2023. Having been released by the Tamil Thalaivas ahead of Pro Kabaddi 2023, Pawan's name in the auction is likely to spark a massive bidding war among the franchises.
Speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda, Pawan opened up on the evolution of the sport courtesy of the PKL, his injury last season and how the age factor affects a player's performances in kabaddi.
The Hi-Flyer credited the growth of kabaddi across the globe to Pro Kabaddi. He spoke about how Asian Games defending champions Iran, and South Korea have become kabaddi powerhouses following the introduction of the league.
He said:
"PKL is the one that is growing kabaddi so much all over the world. Whether it is Iran or India or Korea - if you talk about any team, it has grown so much and PKL has played an important role in that."
Pawan added that the foreign players keep picking up some skills from their Indian counterparts after observing them on the mat. He cited the example of Fazel honing his ankle hold skills by observing Surender Nada at U Mumba.
He said:
"If the players from there come to India and train with good coaches, learn new skills, stay with the good players. They get to learn something from us. Pardeep has a great dubki, me and Naveen have a good jump. Before Fazel, there was Surender Nada who was good at ankle hold. Fazel picked it up from Surender Nada. So you learn something from PKL."
Having missed Pro Kabaddi 2022 due to an unfortunate injury, Pawan was seen in a new role in the commentary box. Recounting that experience, Pawan was happy to have gotten the opportunity to stay in touch with the sport via his commentary stint.
On this, he said:
"I enjoyed commentary a lot but I am an athlete. So while not having retired, if I go to commentary box, that was not a good feeling, I wanted to play. But if I wanted to stay in touch with kabaddi, then the commentary box were the best place for me. I enjoyed that."
"I think age doesn't matter as long as the player is fit" - Pawan Sehrawat on the age factor in kabaddi
Pawan also had his say on the age factor in kabaddi. He believes that age is not a barrier up until the player maintains his fitness and timing in the game. He reasoned that a youngster who is not fit will not perform well and assured that age does not matter, giving the example of veteran Dharmaraj Cheralathan.
Pawan explained:
"I think age doesn't matter as long as the player is fit. The biggest issue is that. If a player is fit, then he will play well in the future. If he is young and he is not fit, then he will not play well. So, age doesn't matter for me or for any of us. The timing matters.
"After ageing, it's not like the player can't play, he just has to match the timing. If Cheralathan is matching timings even at the age of 46, then he is fit."