Sukesh Hegde (Kabaddi)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Sukesh Hegde

• Sukesh Hegde is an Indian kabaddi professional and is known for playing in teams such as Telugu Titans, Gujrat Giants, Tamil Thalaivas, Bengal Warriors, and Patna Pirates.

  

• He is also an employee at the Bank of Baroda. ^[3]Bengal Warriors – YouTube

• Sukesh Hegde began his kabaddi journey in primary school. He started by joining the athletics team but later advanced to the Kabaddi team.

  

• He joined the national Karnataka team in 2013 and stayed for over 8 years. In 2014, he trained with the Pro Kabaddi League’s Indian camp and secured a bronze at the 65th Senior National Kabaddi Championship in 2017.

  

• Telugu Titans picked him during the 2014 Pro Kabaddi League season where he achieved his top raid score. In 2017, he was the captain of the Gujarat Fortune Giants in PKL’s fifth season.

• Sukesh was a part of India’s gold win at the 12th South Asian Games in 2016.

• He believes the growth of kabaddi in South India is due to the coming of a few South Indian players in the Pro Kabaddi League. Kabaddi was thought of as the sport of the north and because of the initial challenges of not having proper resources in the cities, not much enthusiasm was shown for the sport as well.

• At university, he practiced rigorously to match his senior players. He would practice daily with the juniors for three to four hours as the seniors did not allow them to play along.

• According to Sukesh, Manjeet Chillar was the toughest defender he came across in PKL. ^[4]Pro Kabaddi – YouTube

• During the Season 5 finals for Gujarat Fortune Giants, he was disappointed when benched after only a few raids by the coach. He said it was one of the hardest situations of his life. ^[5]Bengal Warriors – YouTube

• After retiring from his playing career, Sukesh aspires to coach Kabaddi so that he can inspire more and more people to join the sport. He also wants to inspire the youth of his own village. ^[6]Pro Kabaddi – YouTube

• When asked about it in an interview, the raider said that his ideal Dream Team would include players like Fazel, Ravinder Pahal, Sunil, Parvesh, and Mohammad Esmaeil Nabibakhsh.^[7]WikiKabaddi

• He and his wife, Krithika, graduated from the same college: Alva’s College, Moodbidri.

• Sukesh is fluent in three languages including Kannada, English, and Hindi.

• The player is very passionate about helping and feeding the street animals. He also posts on his social media so that he can inspire others to do the same. Besides, he also owns a pet husky.

  

• His hobbies include photography, swimming, gymming, and doing yoga. He not only focuses on physical health but believes that mental health is equally important.
  

  

  

• For the same health reasons, he focuses a lot of his diet which includes unprocessed, homemade food that is low on carbs and oil. He prioritizes overall health and fitness and believes that a good diet is the secret to a long career, especially in sports.