'I travelled by air for the first time with U Mumba,' says Pro Kabaddi League player Pranay Rane

As an 18-year-old, Pranay Rane took it upon himself to make a mark in the world of kabaddi. Therefore, he dropped out of his engineering college and ventured to Mumbai to achieve his dream. Four years later, Rane is one of the players in the biggest kabaddi league in the world.

"I was not able to balance my engineering degree and kabaddi at the same time. So my father told me to leave engineering and focus on kabaddi. I moved to Mumbai from my village to train in kabaddi. My village is near Goa," said Rane.

Rane, who has been part of the U Mumba set-up for the last two seasons, further added, "I took a room on rent and I started living in Mumbai with a friend. It was really difficult to stay away from home, but I was determined to achieve in life. I had to go to practice sessions on my own and I had to take care of myself completely for four years."

After toiling hard for four years, Rane achieved a spot in the U Mumba team after performing well in the team's New Young Player Programme trials. "After playing for Mumbai University for a year, I went for the NYP trials hosted by U Mumba in June last year. I got selected there and made my PKL debut in Season 9. It feels really good to play on such a big platform," said Rane.

Along with playing under lights and in front of a roaring crowd, Rane is also getting accustomed to air travel and staying in hotels, "I travelled by air for the first time with U Mumba. I am still not very comfortable travelling by air, but I am getting used to that as well. Also, I find the mattresses in our hotels very soft and therefore I sleep on the ground."

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