The big day is here. Season three of the always-entertaining Pro Kabaddi League gets underway today amidst much euphoria in Visakhapatnam. The first match of Saturday sees defending champions U Mumba pitted against home side Telugu Titans, who command a large fanbase.
The Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Vizag will host the mega opening clash.
U Mumba had an incredible second season in the Pro Kabaddi League, and they will be keen on taking that form forward and making the same amount of impact in Pro Kabaddi League 2016 as well, and that too right from the start.
The likes of skipper Anup Kumar, raiders Shabeer Bapu and Rishank Devadiga, as well as defenders Surendar Nada, Jeeva Kumar and Mohit Chillar make the U Mumba roster star-studded. And when you have an experienced coach like E Bhaskaran, the icing on the cake doesn't get better.
U Mumba start the tournament as the clear favourites, but skipper Anup Kumar warned his teammates of complacency. "I will have to keep my team in control when we're playing. If we end up playing too aggressively based on the fact that we're champions, nothing will come out of it," the Arjuna Award winner told Sportskeeda.
"You get the results for the effort you put on the Kabaddi mat. We can't think of lifting the trophy from the beginning. We will take each game as it comes. So first we are focusing on our opening match, which we hope to win. It's all about building momentum."
Telugu Titans stood third in the second season of Pro Kabaddi, and on their home turf, they are a formidable force. This will be a key factor as they get set to take on the U Mumba side today. And with the presence of the experienced Dharmaraj Cheralathan, Mehraj Sheykh, Sukesh Hegde, as well as star raider Rahul Chaudhary, the Telugu Titans side cannot be underestimated at any cost.
''We are confident of a good show and pin hopes that Titans to clinch the trophy this time as more team possessed a star attack with the skipper and star rider of the pro kabaddi Rahul Chaudari, Sukesh Hedge, Prashant Raj and experienced Dharmaraj Cheralathan,'' Srinivas Sriramineni, the owner of the franchisee, told The Hans India.
Where to Watch Live:
The match between Telugu Titans and U Mumba will begin at 8 pm IST (2:30 pm GMT).
Pro Kabaddi League 2016: Telugu Titans vs U Mumba can be caught LIVE on the Star Sports Network.
Hindi Coverage - Star Sports 3, Star Sports HD 3, Star Gold
English Coverage - Star Sports 2, Star Sports HD 2
Telugu Coverage - Maa Movies
Kannada Coverage - Suvarna Plus
UK viewers can catch the action on Life OK
Live streaming will be available on Hotstar and Starsports.com