Pro Kabaddi will have four new teams in the fifth edition due to be played from July to October this year. The league confirmed that Sachin Tendulkar and the Adani Group are among the new franchise-owners with teams to be based out of Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.

Here are the four new cities added and the respective owners:

  • Chennai: Sachin Tendulkar & N-Prasad (Iquest Enterprises Private Limited)
  • Ahmedabad: Adani Group (Adani Wilmar Limited)   
  • Lucknow: GMR Group (GMR League Games Private Limited)   \
  • Haryana: JSW Group (JSW Sports Private Limited)  

With this, Pro Kabaddi is all set to surpass other franchise-based Indian sports leagues in terms of geographical representation (11 states), number of matches (130-plus) and length of the tournament 13 weeks.

This expansion adds to the line-up of eight franchises based out of major metros in the country – Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Patna, Pune and Jaipur.

Play

Pro Kabaddi had received a major boost this week with Chinese mobile company Vivo signing a five-year deal worth Rs 300 crore ($46.7 million) as the principal sponsor.

The league has held its own among the myriad professional sporting leagues to emerge in the wake of the lucrative and hugely successful Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket tournament in 2008.

Kabaddi attracts impressive viewer ratings in a competitive market dominated by cricket, but where smaller shares are fiercely contested by other popular sports leagues including badminton and hockey.

Star India, and its broadcaster Star Sports, already backs the Pro Kabaddi as it moves into its fifth edition.