From cleaning mats to playing in PKL: How fate chose kabaddi for Bengal Warriors' young Turk Rohit Raghav - EXCLUSIVE
They say "what's meant to be will always find a way." A young boy from Haryana -- a class 10 dropout and son to a man who works as a security guard in his day job -- experienced this saying turn into a reality as a teenager when fate took him to kabaddi and eventually helped him elevate his position from a mat cleaner to a Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) player.
At the age of 15, Bengal Warrior's all-rounder Rohit Raghav, a few days after casually taking part in a kabaddi tournament at the village's annual "mela" (fair) every January, was completing his daily run. Like most children in the Jhajjar district, he too was fond of fitness and of joining the army with no real ambitions of becoming a sportsperson. He was then stopped abruptly by a stranger, who everyone in the town called "Happy". Rohit didn't know him but Manjeet Singh, Happy's real name, was convinced he had spotted a real talent and that conversation turned out to be the turning point of Rohit's life.
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While speaking to the Hindustan Times in an exclusive interview, Rohit revealed that Happy, a member of Delhi Police, liked his game in the annual fair and asked him to pursue the sport professionally.
"Bhai (as Rohit fondly addresses Manjeet) told me that I will have to leave my hometown. I then told him that the current situation in my house won’t allow me, but he said he will take care of everything. He even came to my house, spoke to my family, and told them that I need to play. And since he works with Delhi police, my family were convinced that someone like him would not give wrong advice. That’s the day he held my hand," detailed Rohit with a beaming smile on his face.
From thereon, all Rohit did was play kabaddi and rise up the ranks. With the increased workload and support of his family, he was allowed to quit his studies and at the same time, Manjeet took take care of the finances, helped him maintain a rich diet, and even adjusted his work schedule in order to train Rohit at least twice a day.
Rohit first set onto a kabaddi mat when Manjeet took him for trials with the Delhi Police team. Manjeet, a part of the squad, convinced his coach to take his test. At first, the coach was reluctant by Rohit's own admission, but once he watched the all-rounder play, he touted him for great success
"He (coach of Delhi Police team) told me that I have a bright future and suggested that I start training with SAI (Sports Authority of India)," Rohit disclosed. Paying heed to the suggestion, Rohit joined SAI's Gandhinagar centre and after going through a trials session conducted by coach Jaivir Sharma, he secured admission.
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But, game time was scarce as senior players were preferred. Since Rohit continued to impress in training, coach Jaivir advised Rohit to try his hand at a tournament in Goa, and finally, Rohit received the recognition he deserved.
"There (in Goa), a lot of PKL players were present, including the UP Yoddha team. I defeated Sumit Sangwan and that’s when the Goa management told me that while I fall in the right age category for junior tournaments, I need to lose weight. They told me that if I did so, they would include me in the junior nationals squad. I lost 10 kgs and we finished on the podium for the first time (bagging bronze in the 2019 edition). I was then offered to play for the senior team in Ayodhya," elaborated Rohit.
As part of the system, each PKL season, SAI recruits were sent as mat cleaners to various venues. While most kids disliked the "dirty job", Rohit loved every second of it as not only did it earn him INR 500-600 every day but he would also get to see his favourite stars from the best seats in the house.
"We used to sit right in front of the coach. I would get a close view of the players’ reactions during the matches and we would also get to hear what the coach had to say to his players," Rohit explained.
While he was content with his situation at the time, he wasn't satisfied. Eventually, while playing in tournaments like K7 in 20201 and other local Kabaddi tournaments, Bengal Warrior's team analyst Ashwin Venkateshwaran spotted his talent.
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"One day Ashwin sir called me and asked me to send my videos from local tournaments. He said he has seen enough of me in most tournaments but wanted my videos from local tournaments. I shared my defending and raiding videos. He assured me that we (Bengal) will definitely get me onboard," Rohit revealed.
And as fate would have it, 20-year-old Rohit, a part of the NYP (New Young Players) draft at PKL 8 Auctions, was bought by the defending champions for the sum of INR 6 lakh.
Rohit went on to make his debut against Gujarat Giants and in his very first raid, sent Girish Ernak and Sunil packing. He was on cloud 9 after the match.
"I couldn’t sleep until 5 am. My phone was buzzing so much that my phone stopped working after a point. Everyone watched it back at home and that feeling was surreal," said Rohit with an ear-to-ear smile.
Rohit, who has played 5 matches so far in season 8, hopes to represent Team India in the 2026 Asian Games.
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