Pro Kabaddi: Fortunegiants destroy Paltan 44-20 in their own backyard

PUNE: The Gujarat Fortunegiants spoiled Puneri Paltan's homecoming with a resounding 44-20 victory over the home side. Paltan were strangely off-colour and never really got going despite the backing of a raucous crowd at the Balewadi stadium. The Fortunegiants remain top of the table in Zone A with 82 points from 21 matches with Puneri Paltan in third place with 63 points from 17 matches.

Sukesh Hegde starred for the Fortunegiants with 15 points from the 16 raids he attempted while Paltan's top scorer Suresh Kumar could muster only 6 points.

Both teams had already qualified for the playoffs coming into this game and seemed to be well matched in the first 10 minutes. With Gujarat leading 9-5 in the 13th minute, Hedge inflicted the first all out of the match to increase the lead to seven points.

The Gujarat defence, spearheaded by Sunil Kumar, also chipped in with valuable points, forcing as many as 4 unsuccessful raids from Paltan skipper Deepak Hooda.

The first half ended with the Fortunegiants leading 17-7. Two minutes into the second half, Hegde was responsible for the second all out of the game, extending Gujarat's lead to 24-7. Hegde continued to be a thorn in Paltan's side after he got his tenth raid point and followed it up with a super raid in the 36th minute to make it 41-16 for his team.

By this point, the game was well out of the Paltan's grasp and the referee finally put them out of their misery with the final score 44-20 in favour of the zone leaders.

Warriors beat Thalaivas

Ajay Thakur's valiant efforts were in vain as the Tamil Thalaivas fell 34-30 to the Bengal Warriors in a closely fought game despite the two teams being at opposite ends of the standings.Thakur top scored with 14 raid points with Maninder Singh's 12 making him the most prolific of the Bengal players.

The Warriors, who have also qualified for the next phase of the tournament, stay top of Zone B with 74 points from 21 games with the Thalaivas keeping their place at the bottom with 41 points from 21 games.