In the opening match of the Ahmedabad leg, Gujarat Fortune Giants were defeated by Tamil Thalaivas, 34-28 at the EKA Arena by TransStadia on Saturday. Rohit Gulia was outstanding once again, as he took 9 raid points, while Sunil Kumar shone in defence, picking up a brilliant High 5.
In front of the roaring Giants crowd, Sachin Tanwar started proceedings with a brilliant raid, getting the dangerous Manjeet Chhillar. Parvesh and Sunil followed up with a fine combined tackle which sent Rahul Chaudhari off the mat in a do-or-die raid, as we started off well with the scoreline reading 4-1 inside five minutes.
Although, Tamil Thalaivas responded well with Ajay Thakur’s multiple successful raids, it was a circumspect approach from both teams in the first 15 minutes.
With the scoreline reading 8-8, Manjeet Chhillar tackled Sachin Tanwar before Ajay Thakur got both Sunil and Parvesh in a do-or-die raid to turn the momentum in favour of Tamil Thalaivas.
The Thalaivas eventually inflicted an all-out, as we trailed at half-time with the scoreline reading 10-15.
The Thalaivas took a healthy lead in the second half, extending the gap to 18-11, with Sachin and Rohit getting tackled in consecutive raids. It looked like Tamil Thalaivas were running away with the contest, however, Sunil & Co wrestled back with massive tackle points, much to the delight of our fans.
Sunil’s stunning ankle hold got Ajay Thakur in the 34th minute, as the match got really intense with the Tamil Thalaivas Captain off the mat. Sumit Malik tackled Rahul Chaudhari, and Rohit Gulia evaded Shabeer Bapu’s challenge in the following raid, as we not only inflicted Tamil Thalaivas’ first all out in the 37th minute, but also took a narrow lead at 26-25.
With both teams going for the win, it got really tense in the final three minutes, but Ajay Thakur pulled off a Super raid to break the hearts of the fans gathered in the stadium. Thakur’s super raid put the Thalaivas in the driver's seat, and we ended up losing the match by a 6 point-margin.
Full Time: Gujarat Fotune Giants 28-34 Tamil Thalaivas
Defender of the match: Sunil Kumar
With three wins, the Giants are placed in seventh spot with 17 points in the league table. Despite losing to Tamil Thalaivas, the Giants will need to quickly put it behind them as they face Telugu Titans at the EKA Arena by TransStadia at 8:30 PM tomorrow.
