‘Don’t Believe in Over-Confidence’: Ajay Thakur on Asiad Bronze

“It’s part of the game,” said the captain on seven-time defending champions India winning bronze at Asian Games.

Ajay Thakur speaks to The Quint ahead of the sixth edition of the Pro Kabaddi League.

(Photo: The Quint)

Video Editor: Vishal Kumar

India were almost undisputed champions of the Kabaddi world up until the 2018 Asian Games, where an 18-27 loss to Iran knocked the seven-time defending champions out of contention for the gold medal. After failing to make it to the Asiad final for the first time, India came home with a bronze. India captain Ajay Thakur, however, believes that ‘over-confidence’ had nothing to do with it.

I’ve never seen a player in my life who hasn’t lost. These things will happen because Kabaddi has become a very big sport. It’s no more a game where you can just go and win a medal. One has to see how much players are preparing, and what is the level of Kabaddi. I don’t believe in over-confidence. Players have confidence, and if they don’t have that then what are they going to fight for.

Ajay Thakur

Soon after they returned home, confusion took the centre-stage at the Kabaddi trials conducted by the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI), with a rival association's players turning up for a match, that was never scheduled, against the Indian squads, that participated at the Asian Games in Indonesia. Thakur however, said, “he knew nothing about it”.

“I don’t know anything about that. This is our federation’s decision. They’re doing what they like. They’re smarter than us and they’re handling it at their level,” he said.

Here’s Why Ajay Thakur Thinks You Should Support Tamil Thalaivas in PKL 6

Ajay Thakur will once again be leading the Tamil Thalaivas in just their second season of the Pro Kabaddi League, starting 7 October. And here’s why he thinks that it’s his team that deserves your support this season.

One reason why people should support Tamil Thalaivas? Because, Kabaddi as a game originated from Tamil Nadu, and our team also represents this state.

Ajay Thakur

In their maiden PKL season last year, the Tamil Thalaivas finished last in Zone B. But Thakur thinks that the additional experience in this edition’s squad will help them perform better.

“Last season we had a lot of youngsters in our team. So if I went out of court, they got confused with the decision-making. But this time we have a combination of experienced and young players. The level of maturity in the team is pretty high. So the pressure on me has gone down. If I’m not there Manjeet will manage, or Jasvir, or otherwise even Sukesh is there. So there are four captains in this team,” he said.

Twelve teams comprising over 200 players will be competing across 3 months for one trophy. Thakur reckoned that his toughest opponent this season would be Anup Kumar-led Jaipur Pink Pathers.

“I think Jaipur Pink Panthers. The team has players for every situation. Every team lacks in some area or the other. But Jaipur has perfect players in all positions. They have Deepak in the left, and Bajirao on the right. If there’s Mohit Chillar in front, they have Sandeep Dhull at the back. So they do have the perfect side,” he said.