U.P. Yoddhas, the Kabaddi team owned by GMR Group, were handed a 27-46 defeat by Tamil Thalaivas in their 12^th game of the Pro Kabaddi 2023-24 at DOME by NSCI, Mumbai.

Playing their first game after completing their home leg at Noida last week, U.P. Yoddhas suffered their most significant margin defeat of the season. For the Yoddhas, Vijay Malik scored the highest 10 points, achieving a Super 10 from the game, followed by Gagan Gowda, who earned four points. U.P. Yoddhas are now placed tenth in the pro kabaddi league standings with 21 points to their kitty.

U.P. Yoddhas will face the Bengal Warriors in Mumbai on January 13, 2024. The match between U.P. Yoddhas and Tamil Bengal Warriors will be telecast LIVE on Star Sports Network and can be streamed LIVE on Disney Hotstar from 09:00 p.m. (IST) onwards.

U.P. Yoddhas won the toss and invited Tamil Thalaivas to raid first. Tamil Thalaivas drew first blood in the game, aggressively pressing hard and earning points against the Yoddhas quickly. The initial minutes of the game were challenging for the Yoddhas, as none of their strategies seemed to work, and the Thalaivas took a healthy lead of five points, with the scorecard reading 1-6 to the latter’s favour by the 6^th minute of the game.

Tamil Thalaivas continued their momentum and inflicted an early and the first All-Out of the game, extending their lead to nine points. Sumit, guarding the left corner, and all-rounder Vijay Malik for the Yoddhas carried forward the scorecard, helping to narrow the deficit by earning back-to-back points. However, Tamil Thalaivas continued increasing their score as the defence and attack departments outplayed their opponents several times.

The second half began positively for U.P. Yoddhas as they pressed hard in the initial minutes, reducing the deficit to five points. Vijay bravely penetrated the defensive wall of the Thalaivas on a few occasions but failed to receive adequate support from either of his fellow raiders. Although the Yoddhas had the chance to overcome the lost lead, they couldn’t capitalize on the gained momentum, and unforced errors resulted in another All-out against them when the scorecard read 15-29 in favour of Tamil with 14 minutes left in the game.

Subsequently, a Super Tackle by the Yoddhas and quick scoring from Vijay brought some hope, as they not only earned 9 points in the next ten minutes but limited Tamil to scoring only five. However, a healthy 10-point lead was still held by Tamil. U.P. Yoddhas faced the third All-out of the game with just two minutes left, and the game finally concluded with U.P. Yoddhas going down 27-46 to Tamil Thalaivas.