MASHAL SPORTS ANNOUNCES LIST OF RETAINED PLAYERS FOR VIVO PRO KABADDI LEAGUE SEASON 8
Mumbai, 20th August 2021: India’s most sought-after kabaddi league VIVO Pro Kabaddi (PKL), organized by Mashal Sports, announces the ‘Elite Retained Players’, ‘Retained Young Players’ and ‘New Young Players’ for Season 8 ahead of the player auctions.
A total of 59 players were retained across all 3 categories with 22 in the Elite Retained Players (ERP) category, 6 in the Retained Young Players (RYP) category, and 31 in the New Young Players (NYP) category as teams begin assembling their squads for Season 8 slated to take place in December. The non-retained players including all squad players from PKL Seasons 6 and 7 will go under the hammer at the auctions in Mumbai from August 29th to 31st, 2021.
Anupam Goswami, League Commissioner, VIVO Pro Kabaddi and CEO, Mashal Sports said, “Preserving the spirit of squad continuity and team dynamics, the VIVO Pro Kabaddi League has maintained its Player Retention Policy, benefitting players and teams alike. The excitement among viewers and fans this year is palpable, and we are confident of delivering a stellar Season 8 of the VIVO Pro Kabaddi League!”
This time around, the pool of talent retained by the teams is a mixture of young and experienced players. Defending champions Bengal Warriors have retained their captain Maninder Singh along with one of the main heroes of the PKL 7 Final – Mohammed Esmaeil Nabibaksh. Top points scorer of PKL 7 Pawan Kumar Sehrawat has been retained by Bengaluru Bulls for a second consecutive season. The MVP of PKL 7, Naveen Kumar, has been retained by Dabang Delhi K.C. under the ‘Retained Young Players’ category.
Experienced players like Fazel Atrachali (U Mumba), Parvesh Bhainswal & Sunil Kumar (Gujarat Giants), Vikash Khandola (Haryana Steelers), and Nitesh Kumar (U.P. Yoddha) have been retained by their respective teams. Fan favorites including Pardeep Narwal, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Chaudhari, Siddharth Desai, and Rohit Kumar will be part of the player pool, thus adding more excitement to the upcoming player auction.
Star Sports and Disney+ Hotstar are the official broadcaster and OTT partner of the VIVO Pro Kabaddi League. The Category A domestic players auction will be broadcast LIVE on 30th August on the Star Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar. Fans may also follow live updates of the entire player auction (29th – 31st August) on the LIVE Auction Centre exclusively on www.prokabaddi.com.
The list of “Elite Retained Players” is appended below:
| TEAM | PLAYER 1 | PLAYER 2 | PLAYER 3 | PLAYER 4 |
| Bengal Warriors | Maninder Singh | MohammadEsmaeil Nabibakhsh | Rinku Narwal | – |
| Bengaluru Bulls | Pawan Kumar Sehrawat | Amit Sheoran | – | – |
| Dabang Delhi K.C. | Vijay | Neeraj Narwal | – | – |
| Gujarat Giants | Parvesh Bhainswal | Sunil Kumar | – | – |
| Haryana Steelers | Vikash Khandola | – | – | – |
| Jaipur Pink Panthers | Amit Hooda | Vishal | – | – |
| Patna Pirates | Neeraj Kumar | Monu | – | – |
| Puneri Paltan | Balasaheb Shahaji Jadhav | Pawan Kumar (Kaidan) | Hadi Tajik | – |
| Tamil Thalaivas | – | – | – | – |
| Telugu Titans | Rakesh Gowda | – | – | – |
| U Mumba | Fazel Atrachali | Abhishek Singh | Ajinkya Rohidas Kapre | Harendra Kumar |
| U.P. Yoddha | – | – | – | – |