59 players have been retained for the forthcoming season 8 of the Pro Kabaddi League, taking place in December. The last PKL season was held before the COVID-19 pandemic took place, from 20th July 2019 to 19th October 2019.
The league organiser’s Mashal Sports announced on Friday, with a press release through the PKL, “A total of 59 players were retained across all three categories with 22 in the Elite Retained Players (ERP) category, six in the Retained Young Players (RYP) category, and 31 in the New Young Players (NYP) category as the teams begin assembling their squads for season 8 slated to take place in December.”
They have also added the fact that all the players who haven’t been retained which includes all squad players from PKL seasons six and seven will be auctioned. The auctions for these players are going to be held in Mumbai from August 29th to 31st.
Defending champions of last season, Bengal Warriors have retained their captain, Maninder Singh. They have also retained their talismanic rounder, Mohammed Esmaeil Nabibakhsh, who also can be considered their player of the last season and helped them a lot in many crunch situations.
Pawan Kumar Sehrawat, the top scorer of PKL season 7, has been retained by his team, Bengaluru Bulls and hence will play a second consecutive season for the team. Naveen Kumar has been retained by his team, Dabang Delhi K.C under the category of “Retained Young Players”.
Senior Kabbadi players like Fazel Atrachali(U Mumba), Parvesh Bhainswal and Sunil Kumar(Gujarat Giants), Vikash Khandola(Nathan’s Steelers), Nitesh Kumar(U.P Yoddhas)have been retained by their respective teams.