Harpal Singh Bedi
New Delhi,9 August: U Mumba on Wednesday appointmented Gholamreza Mazandarani, KC Suthar and Jeeva Kumar as the new coaches for Season 10 of the Pro Kabaddi League.
Mazandarani returns for his second stint with U Mumba since taking the team to the playoffs in 2018. However, this will be the first outing for experienced Indian coach KC Suthar in the Pro Kabaddi League. Completing the trio is Jeeva Kumar who would be joining the team as a Defensive coach.
Gholamreza Mazandarani is currently the head coach of Iran’s team for the Asian games scheduled to be held later this year. He coached Iran to Asian Games Gold in 2018, toppling India for the first time .
He is a pro freestyle wrestler who went on to play Judo and Kabaddi and has the unique distinction of leading Iran as a Captain and a Coach at the Asian Games.
KC Suthar, has been the former coach of the national team and also worked extensively as a Head Coach of Iran’s national team, leading them to a Silver medal at the Kabaddi World Cup held in Ahmedabad, in 2016. He has also coached the coveted Sports Authority of India’s Kabaddi team from 1986 to 2016 at their centres in Gandhinagar and Mumbai.
Multiple current and former players of PKL have grown and tasted success under KC Suthar, including the likes of Manpreet Singh, Pankaj Shirsat, Neer Gulia and former Mumboy Rakesh Kumar, to name a few.
Hailing from Kanyakumari, Jeeva Kumar won a Gold medal in the 2010 Asian Games, Guangzhou and was a part of the U Mumba family as a player from PKL Season 1 to 4, where he went on to win the Championship in 2015.
He represented the city of dreams for 52 matches amassing 164 points during his tenure and was arguably known to be the best Left Cover defender. Jeeva won his second PKL title as a player with Dabang Delhi in Season 8 after which he hung up his playing boots to then help UP Yoddhas qualify for the Playoffs as an Assistant Coach.