Pro Kabaddi League: Pawan Sehrawat emerges costliest player with Rs 2.60 crore bid from Telugu Titan
Mumbai (PTI): India's Pawan Sehrawat set the record of being the costliest player at Pro Kabaddi League for the second consecutive year after he was picked by Telugu Titans for whopping Rs 2.60 crore at the auctions.
A total of 601 players are up for auction this year.
Sehrawat was picked up by Tamil Thalaivas for Rs 2.26 crore in season nine auctions. On Monday, Haryana Steelers, UP Yoddhas, Telugu Titans and Bengaluru Bulls were engaged in a bidding war for Sehrawat, who played a vital role in India's victory over Iran in the Asian Games final as the team clinched the gold medal.
But before the Indian reclaimed the record on the first of the two-day auction here, Iran's Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh had emerged as the costliest after he was bought for Rs 2.35 crore by Puneri Paltan in category A.
India's Maninder Singh was also among high demand as he was roped in by Bengal Warriors for Rs 2.12 crore.
A total of 137 matches will be played in the 10th edition of PKL. As many as 132 league stage matches will be followed by the playoff comprising five matches two eliminators, two semifinals and the final.
The base price in category A was Rs 30 lakh, category B was Rs 20 lakh whereas in categories C and D, the base prices were placed at Rs 13 lakh and Rs 9 lakh respectively.
For Iran captain Shadloui (all-rounder), whose latest appearance was in the Asian Games final against gold medal winners India, there was intense bidding right at the start which also reset the record of costliest player for both Indian and overseas.
U Mumba and Gujarat Giants began the bidding and were soon joined by Puneri Paltan and Telugu Titans. The Iranian was eventually picked up by Puneri Paltan for Rs 2.35 crore as Patna Pirates, his former team, did not exercise their right of Final Bid Match (FBM).
"We needed someone on the left. We came with the mindset of picking him up at the auctions," Puneri Paltan coach BC Ramesh told the media.
Gujarat Giants bagged Fazal Atrachali for Rs 1.60 crore, with the star Iranian player also attracting the biggest bid for a defender in the tournament auction's history.
India's all-rounder Rohit Gulia went to Gujarat Giants for Rs 58.50 lakh with Patna Pirates once again option against using their FBM.
All-rounder Vijay Malik saw bids being made by Bengal Warriors and UP Yoddhas, who were joined by Telugu Titans and U Mumba. He was acquired by UP Yoddhas for Rs 85 lakhs with his former team Dabang Delhi KC deciding against using FBM.
Indian raider Maninder, who has played for Jaipur Pink Panthers and Bengal Warriors, attracted heavy bidding in category A. He was roped in by Telugu Titans for Rs 2.12 crore but eventually went to Bengal Warriors, who used their FBM to retain the player.
Manjeet attracted bids from Tamil Thalaivas and Patna Pirates, who took him for Rs 92 lakh with Haryana Steelers not using FBM. Tamil Thalaivas bagged Ashu Malik for Rs 96.25 lakh but Dabang Delhi KC used their FBM option to retain the player.
Dabang Delhi also roped in Guman Singh for Rs 85 lakh, who was initially picked up by U Mumba and added Meetu Sharma for Rs 93 lakh.
Benglauru Bulls picked up Vikash Khandola for Rs 55.25 lakh while Siddharth Desai went to Haryana Steelers for Rs 1 crore, who also picked up Chandran Ranjit for Rs 62 lakh.
There were no bidders for Sandeep Narwal, Deepak Niwas Hooda, Ashish, Manoj Gowda, Sachin Narwal, Gurdeep, Ajinkya Kapre and Vishal Bhardwaj.
The two-day auction began on Monday with 12 teams bidding for players, both Indian and overseas, from categories A and B. The auctions for categories C and D will take place on Tuesday.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
