Fitness important for longer Kabaddi tournaments, says Anup Kumar

Mumbai June 28 (IANS) Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) franchise U Mumba skipper Anup Kumar on Wednesday emphasised the importance of maintaining fitness in the cash-rich league which was expanded to a dozen teams this season.

With 12 teams 130 plus matches and 13 weeks of competition one has to remain fit to perform to one s ability.

Anup who along with Telugu Titans captain Rahul Chaudhary was present at the media forum here on Wednesday said it is important to be fit during such a long tournament.

We are working on our fitness now. A 20-day team (U Mumba) camp which was held at Dehradun was completely focused on fitness. We hardly got a chance to step on the mat Anup who is also the India skipper told reporters here.

Every team expects their 8-9 important players to play the entire tournament. So in order to do that we have to remain fit he added.

Last month four new franchises -- Tamil Nadu Haryana Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat -- were inducted into the upcoming edition of the tournament starting from July 28.

Chaudhary also echoed Anup s word and said when the tournament is long one has to remain fit and that also helps improve our game.

Fitness is very important when the tournament is long. It s a contact sport and each time you are on the mat you are expected to give your cent percent. And to do that for a long time you have to remain fit Chaudhary said.

--IANS
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