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Mumbai, 27th July, 2022: VIVO Pro Kabaddi announces the ‘Elite Retained Players’, ‘Retained Young Players’, and ‘New Young Players’ for Season 9 ahead of the player auction.
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A total of 111 players were retained across all 3 categories with 19 from the Elite Retained Players (ERP) category, 13 in the Retained Young Players (RYP) category, and 38 in the New Young Players (NYP) category as teams begin to assemble their squads for Season 9 slated to take place later this year. This year, there are 41 Franchisees nominated New Young Players. The non-retained players will go under the hammer at the auctions in Mumbai between August 5th to 6th, 2022.
Anupam Goswami, CEO, Sports League, Disney Star India and League Commissioner, VIVO Pro Kabaddi League“Some of the star performers of VIVO Pro Kabaddi have a fan following across the country and we believe that this auction will witness some interesting bidding wars. This will lead to creation of new team squads and an increased level of competition in the upcoming season 9.”
The talent pool retained by the teams is a mixture of young and experienced players. Bengal Warriors have retained Maninder Singh, U Mumba has retained Rinku whereas U P Yoddhas have retained Nitesh Kumar.
The list of “Elite Retained Players” is appended below:
| TEAM | PLAYER 1 | PLAYER 2 | PLAYER 3 | PLAYER 4 |
| Bengal Warriors | Maninder Singh | Manoj Gowda K. | Akash Pikalmunde | _ |
| Bengaluru Bulls | Mahender Singh | Mayur Jagannath Kadam | More G B | _ |
| Dabang Delhi K.C. | Vijay | _ | _ | _ |
| Gujarat Giants | Sonu | _ | _ | _ |
| Haryana Steelers | _ | _ | _ | _ |
| Jaipur Pink Panthers | Arjun Deshwal | Sahul Kumar | _ | _ |
| Patna Pirates | Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh (F) | Sajin Chandrasekar | Neeraj Kumar | Monu |
| Puneri Paltan | Sombir | Abinesh Nadarajan | _ | _ |
| Tamil Thalaivas | Ajinkya Ashok Pawar | _ | _ | _ |
| Telugu Titans | _ | _ | _ | _ |
| U Mumba | Rinku | _ | _ | _ |
| U.P. Yoddha | Nitesh Kumar | _ | _ | _ |
VIVO PKL Player Auction will be broadcast LIVE on 5th August, 6:30 PM onwards on the Star Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar.
For all live updates on VIVO Pro Kabaddi league, log on to www.prokabaddi.com, download the Official ProKabaddi app or follow @prokabaddi on Instagram, Youtube, Facebook and Twitter.