Despite a top-notch show from our defenders, UP Yoddha conceded a defeat against Jaipur Pink Panthers on Friday at the Arena by Transstadia, Ahmedabad. Our raiders, apart from captain Rishank, failed to invade the Panthers’ defense and the match ended in the opponents’ favour with a 45-28 scoreline.

The start remained in favour of the Panthers, who were off to a leading start. We earned quite a few technical points which kept us afloat while the Panthers dominated throughout the beginning. It was not until the bonus point from Azad Singh that any of our players scored a touch point each. Our raiders then aimed for bonuses to improve the scores and successfully did so. However, the Panthers did a very crucial substitution early in the match, to bring in Ajinkya Pawar in place of Nitin Rawal which changed the course of the game completely. Ajinkya emerged as their leading raider, and with his ample contribution, the Panthers soon got us All-Out.

Our defending duo of Narender and Nitesh again came to the rescue, executing two Super Tackles in a small interval to mark our comeback in the match, while Rishank pulled off a 2-pointer and we headed towards the next half with a 15-20 scoreline in the Panthers’ favour, with four of our players on the mat.

The Panthers started off the second half on a high, earning quick raid points. However, our defense kept us in the match. Even with two players on the mat, we pulled off a Super Tackle but could not escape the All-Out which was eventually inflicted on us.

Our defenders pulled off yet another Super Tackle but the form we were searching in our raiders seemed missing yet again. With brilliant work from Narender and Nitesh, we earned some points to keep the scorecard going. With 1 minute to go in the match, we were All Out yet again.

Nitesh was again our main man, with a High 5 and 7 points from the match while Narender gave him support, earning 4 tackle points. Rishank was the most successful raider with 7 points from the match. Nitesh took home the TATA Ace Defender of the Match.