As part of the promise of finding and nurturing young talent, U Mumba announced the signing of four exciting young players for the 10th edition of Pro Kabaddi League (PKL 2023) which is scheduled to start on December 2. Sombir Goswami, Mukilan Shanmugam, Gokulakannan M and Bittu Banwala have been selected to play for U Mumba out of the hundreds of players that attended the trials in Mumbai.
All four players could fit into the starting squad of many PKL 2023 teams with their immense potential and will be seen in action in different positions for U Mumba. Sombir Goswami (left corner), Mukilan Shanmugam (left cover), Gokulakannan M (right cover) and Bittu Banwala (right corner) will only add to the existing defensive strength of the side.
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The NYP selections took place in the presence of the coaches Gholamreza Mazandarani, KC Suthar, and Jeeva Kumar. Besides the coaches, U Mumba’s Chief Executive Officer Suhail Chandhok was also involved in NYP selections, carefully observing the performance of each candidate in the NYP selection camp.
“It’s amazing to see such large young talent pool with the likes of the Yuva Kabaddi Series providing a constant supply of high-quality, PKL-ready players from across the country. It’s a pity we could only select four out of the hundreds who turned up for the trials but I am happy that we could find players as per our requirements that could be good enough to fit a starting 7 of a Pro Kabaddi team. Our coaches are focused on building an unbreakable defence, and hence I am happy that we managed to get four highly talented young defenders,” commented Chandhok on the four NYP acquisitions.
U Mumba had already retained five players – Surinder Singh, Jai Bhagwan, Rinku Sharma, Haider Ali Ekrami and Shivam Thakur for the upcoming season.
Brief on the four NYPs:
Sombir Goswami (Haryana)
Position: Left Corner
Achievement: Silver medal in the 30th Sub Junior Patna Bihar 2019; Gold medal in the 3rd Khelo India Youth Games Guwahati Assam 2020; Gold in the 5th Khelo India Youth Games 2023.
Bittu Banwala (Haryana)
Position: Right Corner
Achievement: Has been a part of the Yuva Kabaddi League – Monsoon edition. Scored 117 points in that season and was the second-best defender.
Mukilan Shanmugam (Tamil Nadu)
Position: Left Corner
Achievement: Was one of the best defenders in the Yuva Kabaddi Series – Winter Edition. Earned 59 tackle points that season, including 2 high 5s. Made the Final of the Yuva Kabaddi Series.
Gokulakannan M (Tamil Nadu)
Achievement: Also played in the Yuva Kabaddi Series alongside Mukilan and he scored 96 tackle points, including 7 super tackles & 10 high 5s. Made the Final of the Yuva Kabaddi Series.
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