Mumbai: Mashal Sports Pvt Ltd. the organisers and rights owners of the VIVO Pro Kabaddi League, on Tuesday (May 28), announced that season 7 will begin on July 20 (Saturday).

On commencement of season 7 and a new match time, Anupam Goswami, CEO, Mashal Sports Pvt Ltd and league commissioner, VIVO Pro Kabaddi said, “India’s biggest kabaddi league is all set for a milestone Season VII, as it returns to the July – October window in the country’s annual sports calendar.”

“To improve the overall experience for spectators and television viewers, PKL Season VII will commence each of its city-legs on Saturdays and matches will begin at 7:30 pm throughout.  We take pride in the way all our stakeholders and partners, particularly PKL franchises and the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India, are collectively engaged in making kabaddi a major front ranking sport in India,” he added.

The last season was won by Bengaluru Bulls. They defeated Gujarat Fortunegiants in the final on January 5. In the new season too, 12 teams will vie for top honours.

"Some of the league’s biggest names like Rahul Chaudhari, Siddharth Desai, Monu Goyat and Sandeep Narwal made big moves to new teams for the upcoming campaign while other stars like Pardeep Narwal, Pawan Kumar Sehrawat, Ajay Thakur and Fazel Atrachali will continue to play for their respective teams from Season VI," a report on the league's official website said.

"The latest edition will also see a host of new faces appear in the league, who came through the Future Kabaddi Heroes programme. Breakout stars like Nitesh Kumar, Surender Singh and Rohit Gulia have already made a huge impact in the league after coming through the FKH programme and Season VII will likely unearth more such young talents who will be looking to take the VIVO Pro Kabaddi stage by storm," it added.