Mumbai, Feb 4 (IANS): The third edition of the Future Kabaddi Heroes (FKH) programme, a comprehensive talent scouting and development initiative to foster and nurture future champions, will commence here on Tuesday.
A brainchild of Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) organisers Mashal Sports Pvt Ltd., the FKH programme, initiated a couple of years ago, has been divided into three phases.
In its first phase this year, the talent hunt will be conducted across 11 cities, starting here on Tuesday. The other locations would be Patna, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Lucknow, Nagpur, Guwahati, Bengaluru, Jaipur, and the Junior Nationals.
The cities have been chosen on the basis of expert assessment of Kabaddi talent identified in local tournaments held there in the past.
Last year the programme received an overwhelming response from over 3420 participants. Post a rigorous three-stage selection process, 85 players finally made it to the Pro Kabaddi 2018 auction pool.
Through its prior two editions, the Future Kabaddi Heroes programme has brought to the forefront, young players such as Nitesh Kumar (UP Yodha), the Best Defender in Pro Kabaddi Season 6 and the first defender in the history of the PKL to reach 100 tackle points in a single season; Naveen Kumar (Dabang Delhi) the youngest player in Season 6 who is among the top 10 raiders of the season; Surender Singh (U Mumba) among the top 10 defenders of the season, to name just a few.
Launching the third edition of the programme, Anupam Goswami, PKL League Commissioner, said: "With the FKH programme, our aim is to identify promising talent and build successive generations of higher quality Kabaddi players."
"This initiative has been very successful in each of its two editions so far, with aspirants being selected by the Pro Kabaddi franchises. Some of these young players have scaled significant heights in the PKL and we have witnessed some record breaking performances by these graduates of the programme."
"This is a testament to the depth of Kabaddi talent in our country and the ability of the programme to identify these new young heroes of the mat," he added.