London, 9 August 2014: The inaugural of the Wave World Kabaddi League saw an exciting start today here in London at the O2 Arena. The opening ceremony started with a glittering performance by the local artists from London including the Punjabi folk dance- Bhangra and Ariel performance. The inaugural match saw United Singhs defeating Punjab Thunder by 68-51.

Manjeet Singh from Punjab Thunder slips out of the hands of Sandeep Singh from United Singhs

Punjab Thunder started the match on a high note but United Singhs came back strongly in the 2^nd minute of the game and took the lead of 3-2. Both the teams defended very well in the game and by end the first quarter 11-11 was the scorecard.

In the second quarter of the match United Singhs completely took over and gave a tough fight to Punjab Thunder. The raiders and stoppers from both the team played well. United Singhs star raider Gurinder Singh overpowered Punjab Thunder stoppers and by the end of the half time United Singhs took the lead of 30-26 points.

The beginning of 3rd quarter saw very interesting turning points. Both the teams showcased strong raids and sturdy stopping efforts. The strong raids from Gagandeep Singh and Gurvinderpal Singh built a strong position for the United Singhs while raiders from Punjab Thunder, Anil Kumar & Manjeet Singh aka Fidu were seen struggling but tried their best to give a tough fight and made every effort to reduce the points difference. On the other hand United Singhs gave a fabulous fight and by the end of the 3^rd quarter they took 10 points lead against Punjab Thunder with score moving to 49 – 39 on the scoreboard.

The 4^th quarter started with strong defence from United Singhs. But the star raiders of Punjab Thunder, Anil Kumar and Tinku performed extremely well and tried to bring back their team in strong position, but some weak points like double touch and less consistency of few players pushed the team on the back stage.  Injured exits of star raider of Punjab Thunders Manjeet Singh aka Fidu landed the team in trouble and gave United Singhs strong win with a marginal difference of 17 points and final score was 68- 51.

• Man of the match for the first match is Sandeep Singh from United Singhs
• Highest point scorers: Sandeep Singh (United Singhs) and Sarabjeet Singh (Punjab Thunder).

Tomorrow’s schedule:

Tags: Punjab Thunder, Sandeep Singh, Sarabjeet Singh, United Singhs, Wave WKL, Wave World Kabaddi League, WKL, World Kabaddi League