• Khalsa Warriors outplay Vancouver Lions 70-60 to qualify for final
  • United Singhs rally from behind to beat California Eagles to make final
  • Sonalika Power Raid Of the Day: Navpreet Kumar (United Singhs)
  • Final to be played in Mohali on November 22
Players of Khalsa Warriors & Vancouver Lions are in action
Players of Khalsa Warriors & Vancouver Lions are in action

Mohali, India: Khalsa Warriors and United Singhs, the top two teams in the Wave World Kabaddi League, duly qualified for the final of the inaugural championships on Wednesday. The two teams who were first and second in the League phase, won their semi-finals by comfortable margins to march into the final and set up a mouth-watering title.

In the first semi-final, Khalsa Warriors, outplayed Vancouver Lions 70-60, while United Singh beat California Eagles 63-58.

Khalsa Warriors led through the match in all four quarters against Vancouver Lions to post a superb win.

Soon after United Singhs showed great tenacity to rally from a first quarter deficit to level scores in second quarter and finally beat California in the last two to emerge worthy winners.

The final will be played on November 22, and it will be a preceded by a play-off for the third place between Vancouver Lions and California Eagles.

 

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Match reports:

Semi-final 1: Khalsa Warriors outplay Vancouver 70-60

 

  • Man of the Match: Raider Manjot Singh Gill (19 Raids) of Khalsa Warriors
  • Stopper of the Match: Satnam Sattu (6 stops) of Khalsa Warriors

 

Khalsa Warriors moved on step closer to the inaugural Wave World Kabaddi title with an authoritative 70-60 win over Vancouver Lions in the first semi-final at the International Hockey Stadium in Mohali.

Khalsa Warriors, who won as many as 17 of their 21 Wave KL League stage matches were in command right through from the first quarter and carried on the momentum to become the first team to enter the final. On the other hand, Vancouver Lions, the giants from North America, made a valiant attempt in second and third quarters, but Khalsa Warriors egged on by the crowd were in no mood to relent.

Players of California Eagles & Vancouver Lions are in actionWith seven stops in the opening quarter, Khalsa Warriors, showed that their defence was as good as their offense as they opened up a 20-12 lead in the first session. The star stoppers were Satnam Singh and Gurpreet Singh with good assistance from Bhupinder and Karandip.

Also rising to the occasion were Khalsa raiders, Jasmanpreet (3 raids), Manjot Singh Gill (4) and Gagandeep Jogewal 93). For Vancouver Lions stopper Narinder Ram, Charanjit Singh and Amanvir Singh put up a good fight with raiders Sukhbir Sabrawa, Balwan Singh and Gagandeep Sabrawa (3 raids) chipping in well.

Khalsa Warriors carried on the momentum into the second quarter as raiders Jasmanpreet (5), Manjot (5) and Gagandeep Jogewal (3) were in brilliant form, while stopper Satnam Singh Sattu once again had two successful stops as in first session.

The performance of Vancouver Lions players was somewhat better than first session as their raiders Sukhbir Sabrawa (4), Mandeep Singh (4) and Gagandeep Sabrawa (3) earned valuable points  besides stoppers Amanvir Singh (2) and Narinder Ram Bittoo (1) also contributing, but Khalsa Warriors had established a handy lead at 35-28.

Once again Khalsa Warriors’ stopper had two fine stops and he set the tone for the quarter as raiders Jasmanpreet Raju (8) and Manjot Gill (4) were in full flow outplaying Vancouver.

Despite Vancouver being aided by raiders Gagandeep Sabrawa (6) and Mandeep Singh (4) Khalsa Warriors extended their lead to 11 points at 54-43.

The final session, Khalsa Warriors consolidating that lead and they gave Vancouver no chance to make a comeback as they rounded off the match at 70-60

 Quarter-Wise result of Match 86 was as below:

 Results (Quarter by quarter) (Total points)
Quarters Khalsa Warriors Vancouver Lions
First Quarter 20 12
Second Quarter 35 28
Third Quarter 54 43
Fourth Quarter 70 60

 

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 Semi-final 2: United Singhs rally to beat California Eagles 63-58

  •  Man of the Match: Lovepreet Singh Sangha (21 raids) (United Singhs)
  • Stopper of the match: Sandeep Singh Sandhu (9 stops, United Singhs)

Players of United Singhs and California Eagles in Action during the WKL Semi Final 2 match today in Mohali (4) Players of United Singhs and California Eagles in Action during the WKL Semi Final 2 match today in Mohali (5)In the second semi-final, United Singhs won the toss and went on the first raid. But it was the stoppers, who had the early say with the first three raids being thwarted by the stoppers. California Eagle’s star stopper, Mikhail Jamaal, was successful in stopping Gagandeep Nagra in the very first raid and he again did that on the third with Navdeep Kumar. In between United’s Gurvinder Kahlon stopped California’s Sukhpal Singh, but after that Raiders found their feet.

Yet, United Singhs’ skipper and stopper Sandeep Singh Sandhu (2) and raiders Navpreet Singh(3) and Lovepreet Singh(2) earned crucial points for the team. In contrast California Eagles, stopper Mikhail Jamal (3 stops), and Amrinder did a good job, as California Eagles, also aided by raiders Sukhpal Singh (3) and Parneek Singh (3) presented powerful took the lead at 18-14.

In the second quarter, United Sighs made a good comeback and leveled scores at 31-31. Stopper Sandhu (3) and raiders Lovepreet Singh and Navpreet Singh were in great form. For California Eagles raiders Jagmohan Makkhi (3), Parneek Singh(2) and Baldev Singh (2) won most of the points.

The United Singhs’ comeback continued in third quarter and once again stopper Sandeep Sandhu (2) led from the front and found an able ally in Gurvinder Kahlon (2). Raiders Lovepreet Singh (6) and Navpreet Kumar (5) were once again the main contributors.

For California Eagles stopper Arvinderjeet Singh and Mikhail Jamal put up a good defence and raiders Baldev Singh (4) and Sukhpal Singh (4) added their bit but even then United Singhs moved ahead by three points to 47-44.

In the final quarter, United Singh did not look back and with a superb all-round performance led by raiders Lovepreet and stopper Sandhu, they emerged winners by 63-58.

WKL Semi Final 2 - Best Raider of the match -Lovepreet Singh Sangha of United Singhs WKL Semi Final 2 - Best Stopper of the Match - Sandeep Singh Sandhu of United Singhs WKL Semi Final 2 - Sonalika Power Raid of the day - Navpreet Kumar of United Singhs

Quarter-Wise result of Second semi-final:

 

 Results (Quarter by quarter) (Total points)
Quarters United Singhs California Eagles
First Quarter 14 18
Second Quarter 31 31
Third Quarter 47 44
Fourth Quarter 63 58