The 72nd Senior Men's National Kabaddi Championship witnessed thrilling upsets and dominant performances as Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and other top teams advanced to the highly anticipated quarterfinals.
Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh, Services, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Indian Railways and Bihar advanced to the quarter-finals on the third day of the 72nd Senior men's National Kabaddi Championship here on Thursday.
Sixteen teams were in action across eight knockout matches, battling for a place in the next round.
UP caused a major upset by defeating defending champions Services 5551.
Arjun Deshwal, who also captains Tamil Thalaivas in the Pro Kabaddi League, starred for Uttar Pradesh with an impressive 19-point haul.
Maharashtra recorded a 53-38 win over Himachal Pradesh with Ajit Chouhan and Aditya Shinde leading the raiding unit, with a score of 14 and 12 respectively.
The knockouts also saw another major upset as Tamil Nadu advanced to quarters by defeating one of the strongest teams of the tournament, Haryana in a tie-breaker, after both teams ended the contest with a score of 3535 tie.
Chandigarh registered a dominant 4526 victory over Madhya Pradesh, with the lead Indian player Pawan Sehrawat scoring a total of 10 points. This was followed by Maharashtra's convincing 6921 win over Pondicherry.
In one of the standout contests of the day, Himachal Pradesh emerged victorious 5653 over Rajasthan, as two of their star raiders- Pappu Kumar and Mayank Saini scored 15 and 14 points each.
Uttar Pradesh continued their impressive run with a commanding 6524 win over Jammu & Kashmir.
In another one-sided clash, Services defeated Goa 5122, with star raider Devank Dalal scoring 10 points, while Ankit led the defence, scoring 4 points.
Bihar defeated hosts Gujarat 3834 in a closely contested match, while Indian Railways rounded off the pre-quarterfinals with a solid 5738 victory over Karnataka.