Manjeet Chhillar (born 18 August 1986) is an Indian former professional kabaddi player who currently serves as the assistant coach of Telugu Titans. During his professional career, he played for the Indian national team and won a gold medal at the

2014 Asian Games The 2014 Asian Games ( ko, 2014년 아시아 경기대회/2014년 아시안 게임, Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asia gyeonggi daehoe/Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asian Geim), officially known as the 17th Asian Games ( ko, 제17회 아시아 경기대회/제17회 ...

and 2014 Asian Indoor Games in

Incheon Incheon (; ; or Inch'ŏn; literally "kind river"), formerly Jemulpo or Chemulp'o (제물포) until the period after 1910, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City (인천광역시, 仁川廣域市), is a city located in northwestern South Kore ...

. He also played for teams in the Pro Kabaddi League including

Bengaluru Bulls Bengaluru Bulls (BGB) is a Kabaddi team based in Bengaluru that plays in the Pro Kabaddi League. The team were champions in Season 6 and are led by Mahender singh and coached by Randhir Singh. The team is owned by Kosmik Global Media. Bulls p ...

Puneri Paltan Puneri Paltan is a kabaddi team which represents the city of Pune, Maharashtra, India in the Pro Kabaddi League. The team, coached by BC Ramesh, plays at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex. Puneri Paltan, a founding member of the Pro Kab ...

Jaipur Pink Panthers Jaipur Pink Panthers (JPP) is a professional kabaddi team which belongs to Pink City of India Jaipur, competes in Pro Kabaddi League which is a professional Kabaddi league in India. The team is currently led by Sunil Kumar Malik and coached by ...

, Tamil Thalaivas, and

Dabang Delhi Dabang Delhi KC is a Kabaddi club based in New Delhi, India that plays in the Pro Kabaddi League. The team is currently led by Naveen Kumar Goyat and coached by Krishan Kumar Hooda. The team is owned by Radha Kapoor and they play their home ma ...

. The

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

conferred the

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

on him for his achievements in sports. In an exclusive chat with NNIS Sports, Chhillar termed it as a 'dream' to receive the prestigious award. He was also the member of state team of

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

and is on top of Pro Kabaddi’s all-time leaderboards for tackle points (391), successful tackles (374) and High 5s (25).

Early life

He was born in Nizampur village in West Delhi near Ghevra metro station. Manjeet Chhillar was initially a wrestler, but an injury to his nose saw him return to his village where he started playing Kabaddi. Manjeet was first seen in professional Kabaddi in the 2010 Asian Games in China.

Pro Kabaddi League

Season 1

He was the captain of

in the first season of VIVO Pro Kabaddi and won them a grand total of 51 tackle points – the highest by any defender – to emerge as the Star Sports Defender of the Tournament. Manjeet’s versatility meant that he also picked up 71 raid points and helped the Bulls reach the semi-finals.

Season 2

Manjeet was adjudged Most Valuable Player (MVP) in Season 2 for his all-round performance. He picked up 40 tackle points and 67 raid points as Bengaluru Bulls finished as runners-up. Like the first season, Manjeet contributed heavily in attack for Bengaluru. Having said that, his defensive displays were top class as well and justifies him being MVP in Season 2.

Season 3

He moved to

ahead of the third season and was made captain. His performance levels though didn’t drop as he scored 61 tackle points and 45 raid points while leading Pune to a third-placed finish in what was their best season.

Season 4

The fourth edition of Pro Kabaddi saw both Manjeet and Pune fail to better their performance from the previous campaign. He scored only 44 tackle points and 24 raid points as Pune narrowly missed out on the playoffs.

Season 5

In Season 5, Manjeet joined

and was made captain again. However, he could manage just 5 raid points and 47 tackle points as the Panthers endured a difficult campaign that saw Manjeet nurse an injury for a long duration.

Season 6

In Season 6, he moved to Tamil Thalaivas after the Tamil Nadu based franchise picked him. Manjeet became a leader in defence for the Thalaivas and scored 59 tackle points as well as 8 raid points.

Season 7

In season 7, Manjeet continued at Tamil Thalaivas, scoring 37 tackle points and 4 raid points.

Season 8

Manjeet was bought by

in the auction for Rs 20 lakh and helped the team win its maiden title. In season 8, he scored 52 tackle points from 24 games. At the end of the season, he retired and became the assistant coach of

Telugu Titans Telugu Titans is a Kabaddi team based in Vishakapatnam and Hyderabad that plays in the Pro Kabaddi League. Telugu Titans is a franchise of Veera Sports owned by Mr. Srinivas Sreeramaneni of Vaya Group, of NED Group and Mr. Mahesh Kolli of Green ...

International

Manjeet is a gold medalist in the National Championships in 2010, 2011 and 2012. He has also won gold at the

2009 Asian Indoor Games The 2009 Asian Indoor Games ( vi, Đại hội Thể thao Trong nhà châu Á 2009), officially the 3rd Asian Indoor Games ( vi, Đại hội Thể thao Trong nhà châu Á lần thứ 3) and also known as Vietnam 2009, were a pancontinential indoo ...

and the

2010 Asian Games The 2010 Asian Games (), officially known as the XVI Asian Games () and also known as Guangzhou 2010 (), was a regional multi-sport event celebrated from November 12 to November 27, 2010 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, although several events ...

. Manjeet claimed bronze at the

2012 Asian Beach Games The third Asian Beach Games were held in Haiyang, China in 2012. Sports * * * * * * * * * * * * * Participating nations 43 out of 45 Asian countries participated in these games. The two countries that did not participate in th ...

Records and achievements

* Most Valuable Player (2015) in the PKL * Gold at

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

* Gold at

* 2016 Kabaddi World Cup winner * 2018 Dubai Kabaddi Masters winner *

winner (2015)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chhillar, Manjeet Indian kabaddi players Living people People from Panipat district Kabaddi players from Haryana Pro Kabaddi League players Recipients of the Arjuna Award Asian Games gold medalists for India Asian Games medalists in kabaddi Kabaddi players at the 2010 Asian Games Kabaddi players at the 2014 Asian Games 1986 births Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games