VANCOUVER Lions defeated Punjab Thunders by 57-46 at Bhatinda’s Hockey Stadium at Rajindra College last Sunday.

The first quarter of the match started with opening points for the Vancouver Lions by Gagandeep Satti. Gagandeep Sapra of Vancouver Lions made four raids and scored points for the team. The players of Punjab Thunder like Sultan Singh, Talwinder Singh Grewal and Sukhmanjeet Singh scored points for their team. In one of the stops Baljit Singh of Punjab Thunder was stopped extremely well by Satnam Singh of Vancouver Lions. After a couple of tussles between both the teams, Vancouver Lions managed to lead the points tally taking the score to 13-14 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter of the match witnessed a high energy performance. The Vancouver Lions were clinical on their raids, initially giving no scope to the defenders of the opponent team to get an advantage for scoring a point. Vancouver Lions focused on not giving away points and were much disciplined on their approach while defending the raids by Punjab Thunder. There were some good moves by the defenders of Punjab Thunders in tackling the raiders of their opponent but were unlucky to convert on a successful note. Sultan Singh of Punjab Thunder and Balwan Singh of Vancouver Lions were the star raiders of this quarter whereas Satnam Singh of Vancouver Lions and Sukhmanjeet Singh of Punjab Thunder were the best stoppers for the Vancouver Lions. The quarter finished on a buoyant note, where the Lions maintained their lead with four points on a final tally of 24-28.

The third quarter of the match started with scoring point for Vancouver Lions by Gagandeep Sabrawan. Sultan Singh of Punjab Thunder scored points for the team with excellent use of tactics and escaped the stop made by Vancouver Lions. However, Vancouver Lions kept leading the points tally as the stop line for them was excellent in the match. In spite of efforts made by Narendra Ram aka Bittu, Gurpreet Singh escaped the stop and scored points for Punjab Thunder. Gurpreet Singh of Punjab Thunder and Balwan Singh of Vancouver Lions were the star raiders of this quarter. Narendra Ram of Vancouver Lions was the star raider of the quarter. However by the end of the third quarter the point’s difference was of six points, taking the scoreboard to 35-41.

The final quarter of the match cemented the victory for the Vancouver Lions. Aggression was at its fullest extent displayed by the Punjab Thunders who were unable to contain the Vancouver Lions who were precise to their game plan. Balwan Singh was the star raider who maintained hundred percent successful raids for the Lions supported by Sukhbir Singh at the end. Kulwinder Singh and Gagandeep Sattu was the anchor for the Vancouver Lions defence, giving no opportunity to the raiders of their opponents. The match witnessed a high action drama in the last quarter where Punjab Thunder was desperate to narrow the points tally. The match ended on a winning note for the Vancouver Lions with a lead of 11 points and a final score of 46-57.

* Man of the match: Balwan Singh of Vancouver Lions

* Best Raider: Balwan Singh of Vancouver Lions (18 raids)

* Best Stopper: Gagandeep Sattu of Vancouver Lions (4 raids)

* Punjab Thunder is co-owned by Daljit Thind, Founder and CEO of Thind Properties, Rajat Bedi Bollywood Indian Film actor who currently lives in Richmond, and Monty Sikka, President of the Monark Group whose head offices located in Surrey.

* Vancouver Lions is owned by Gurjit Singh Purewal, well-known blueberry farmer.

(Report and photo courtesy World Kabaddi League)