Surjeet Singh had an inspiring campaign in the recently concluded VIVO Pro Kabaddi season where he led from the front and managed to bring his team within touching distance of the title. The man known to have one of the best short blocks in the game returned 76 tackles points from the 24 games he played and was the second most successful defender in the league behind Surender Nada. There is little wonder then, that when ProKabaddi.com caught up with the prolific cover defender, he was a picture of contentment and said he was grateful to play on the same stage as his childhood heroes, such as Rakesh Kumar, Anup Kumar and Naveen Kumar.

“I grew up playing kabaddi and there have been 5 gold medallists from my village,” said Singh, “It has always been my dream to play for India and on a big stage like VIVO Pro Kabaddi. I am really happy that both these dreams have come true for me.”

Singh’s quick blocks and powerful dashes have been instrumental in his team’s rise to the top and it took a spirited effort from season 5 champions Patna Pirates to defeat them by 3 points in the second qualifier. However, Patna Pirates had never managed to beat the team from Bengal in any of their league stage clashes where they fell to 2 draws and 1 loss.

Surjeet proudly pointed this out while narrating his most memorable moment from the league, which was also against the Pirates. “The match against Patna at home, in which we came from behind and defeated them (Match 56) was the most memorable moment of the league for me,” he said.

Singh’s love for sports, though, isn’t restricted exclusively to kabaddi. He is also an avid football fan who enjoys watching his favourite player Lionel Messi whenever he has time. “I like football because there is a lot of energy in the game. Players are constantly running from one end of the field to another which requires them to be extremely fit,” Singh pointed out.