PKL 2018 | Vikash Khandola: Haryana’s new answer to opposition defenders

11/01/2018

PKL

Haryana Steelers roped in one of the finest raiders in the shape of Monu Goyat for PKL 6 but he has struggled to come up with a substantial performance so far. It has been Vikash Khandola has been their most impressive player this season with some impressive performances in the ongoing season.

Haryana has a history of producing some of the best kabaddi players in the world and the state is known as the power house of the sport in India. Despite having a large number of players from the state performing on the mat, Haryana didn’t have a team till the fifth edition of the PKL when JSW came up with the new franchise in 2017. This gave an opportunity for young Vikash Khandola to come and represent the team from his home state in the league and one year later he is one of the mainstays in their raiding department.

Born in April 1998, Khandola started playing kabaddi at a very young age in his village Budayan in Jind district of Haryana. His first major break in competitive kabaddi at the senior level came in the fourth season when he got a call from the Dabang Delhi KC and represented the franchise from the national capital in four games. He was not successful in his debut year in the league as he scored only three points from four games that he played in 2017.

Fortunes changed for the Haryana raider when he got a call from the newly-included franchise from his home state last year. He was delighted to get a chance to represent Haryana and that was quite visible in his performance as well. He played nine matches in the fifth season and earned 58 raid points at an impressive average of 6.44 per game. Experienced Wazir Singh was their primary raider in the season along with Prashanth Rai and Deepak Dahiya to help him out. With a good raiding unit in the team, Khandola utilized the minimum number of chances he got in the league to maximum effect which ensured that the raider is retained in the sixth season by the franchise.

Speaking exclusively to SportsCafe, Khandola said, “It feels great to be a part of my home team and I feel proud by seeing myself in the Haryana side.”

“PKL has been a revolution in kabaddi and has changed the lives of many kabaddi players like me. It has made the game popular and has brought it on the mat from the muddy courts. Previously, not a lot of people knew about the sport but now people recognise kabaddi players.”

Khandola’s serious kabaddi journey started in 2013 when he was drafted into the Sonipat centre of the Sports Authority of India (SAI). He then made it to one of the finest kabaddi centres in the country – SAI, Gandhinagar in 2015 from where he played junior nationals for SAI for two consecutive seasons where they won gold medals and got a chance to represent the country in Junior Asian Kabaddi Championship in 2016 where India was crowned champions.

“Joining SAI and playing for them had a big impact on my career and I believe this made me what I am today. The coaches at SAI, Gandhinagar made us work hard and helped a lot in the improvement of my game,” said Khandola.

Son of a farmer, Khandola always received a lot of support from his parents and was delighted to play in front of them during the Sonipat leg of the league earlier this season. Representing Haryana in Haryana was a moment of real happiness for the young man but he was a tad disappointed that the team was not that good at home.

“My parents have always stood behind me during my tough times. When I was a child, my mother used to put pressure to study hard but with the gradual progress in kabaddi, they are very happy with what I am doing now. I am still pursuing my graduation in arts from IGNOU, Haryana,” Khandola explained.

“My parents and relatives came to watch the matches held in Sonipat. We started by winning the first game but unfortunately lost consecutive matches after that. A win in the last game at home was a confidence booster for our team. It’s a long tournament and we would definitely want to come back properly in the rest of the tournaments.”

Khandola is having a good run in the sixth edition of the league where he is currently at the sixth position on the Top Raiders list with 68 points from nine games and is ahead of their top raider Monu Goyat. Khandola believes that he has learnt a lot from Monu and he being in the team helps other young raiders like Khandola to grow as proper raiders. He has four Super Raids from nine games which proves that he has improved a lot from the previous season of the league. He even took up the captaincy role in their last game against Patna Pirates and led the team from the front with a Super 10. In the absence of Monu, the Haryana team managed to register a win against the defending champions in their own backyard and Khandola had an important role to play in there.

“Monu is a very good player and it is a privilege to play alongside him. I get a lot to learn from a senior player like Monu. He tries to rectify my mistakes during the matches and in the practice sessions as well. He tells me when to take a bonus and when to go for which move during a match,” informed Khandola.

“Rambir (Khokhar) Sir has helped me a lot in the Haryana Steelers camp. He advises us not to take any kind of a pressure while playing on the mat and that’s the reason why we play the sport without a lot of burden on our shoulders. Monu goes to raid whenever there is more pressure on our raiders. So, in that way, our captain helps us during pressure situations in a match.”

The 20-year-old, who took up kabaddi by seeing people in his village playing on muddy courts, gets inspiration from ‘Captain Cool’ Anup Kumar and says that his style is influenced by the veteran raider. He also loves playing volley-ball apart from kabaddi and wants to bring glory for the country one day by winning gold at Asian Games and clinching the Kabaddi World Cup in near future.

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