Pro Kabaddi League: Bengal Warriors appoint Prashant Surve as head coach, Praveen Yadav as assistant coach

Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) team Bengal Warriors have announced the appointments of Prashant Surve as the head coach and Praveen Yadav as the assistant coach for the upcoming season of the Pro Kabaddi League.

Surve replaces K Bhaskaran as the head coach, who stepped down after the 10th season of the Pro Kabaddi League. Surve has been a part of the Bengal Warriors set-up for two seasons as the assistant coach.

For Praveen, who is a former player, this will be the first coaching assignment.

The Kolkata-based franchise won the PKL title in 2019 and have qualified for the playoffs four times since the inception of the league. In the last season, the Bengal Warriors narrowly missed out on qualifying for the playoffs after finishing seventh. The top six teams in the 12-team league will advance to the playoffs.

The 10th season of the PKL also returned to its original format of teams playing one leg of the league on their home turf. The home-away format was disrupted due to the coronavirus induced pandemic and the league returned to its original format after a gap of four years.

Surve said he was delighted to coach the team and hoped he could retain the faith of the team owners, Capri Sports, by helping them to be crowned champions. “I am delighted that the franchise has shown immense faith in me by asking me to take over as the head coach of the team. We are committed to put our best efforts, whether it is at the auctions or on the mat and make the people of Bengal proud. We have received a lot of warmth and affection from our fans when we went back to the city after four years and we promise to exhibit our best play and deliver positive results this season,” the head coach said.

The auctions and the upcoming season of the Pro Kabaddi League will happen after the 2024 Paris Olympics.