Dharmaraj Cheralathan (born 21 April 1975) is an Indian

Kabaddi Kabaddi (, ) is a contact team sport played between two teams of seven players. It is one of the traditional games of South Asia. In this game, a raider enters the opposing half of the court to touch defenders and attempt to return within 30 ...

player who currently represents

Tamil Thalaivas Tamil Thalaivas is an Indian professional kabaddi franchise based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The team competes in the Pro Kabaddi League and was added as one of the four additional franchises when the league was expanded in 2017. The team plays i ...

in the VIVO Pro Kabaddi league. He was a member of the Indian Kabaddi team that won gold at the Kabaddi World Cup in 2016. Nicknamed “Anna”, Cheralathan led

Patna Pirates Patna Pirates (PTP) is a professional kabaddi team based in Patna, Bihar, that plays in the Pro Kabaddi League. The team is led by Ankit Jaglan and coached by Anup Kumar (kabaddi). Their home ground is the Patliputra Sports Complex. The Pirate ...

to the Pro Kabaddi league in Season 4.

Early life

Cheralathan comes from a farming family in Tamil Nadu. He has one brother and two sisters. According to him, farming was all that was important to him while growing up. Even his brother is a farmer. They spent a lot of their young days working in the fields. Cheralathan's brother, D. Gopu, has also played in the Pro Kabaddi league and was a defender for Tamil Thalaivas in Season 6.

Career

Season 1

Cheralathan played for Bengaluru Bulls in the inaugural season and scored 39 tackle points as well as 13 raid points. He had a tackle strike rate of 56.52% and was a nightmare for opposition raiders to deal with.

Season 2

With 42 tackle points, Cheralathan led the Bengaluru Bulls defence in the second season. He also contributed in attack with 19 raid points. His tackle strike rate of 61.76% is impressive, but what stood out from this season was his success while raiding.

Season 3

He was bought by Telugu Titans for the subsequent season and scored 31 tackle points for the side from Hyderabad. Despite a slight dip in his tackle success rate, Cheralathan still averaged a tackle strike rate of more than 50%.

Season 4

Patna Pirates roped in Cheralathan ahead of the fourth season for Rs 29 lakh and appointed him as captain. He scored 39 tackle points and was rock-solid in defence as the Pirates made it back-to-back league titles. Cheralathan also topped the Super Tackles chart in the fourth season with 8 to his name.

Season 5

He moved to Puneri Paltan for the following edition and only managed to score 25 tackle points with the Pune-based side. Cheralathan played 18 games for Pune but couldn't score more than 4 points in any of those contests.

Season 6

After joining U Mumba in 2018, Cheralathan enjoyed a renaissance and scored an impressive 40 tackle points. He had a tackle strike rate of 57.97% and produced a defensive masterclass during U Mumba's win over Gujarat Fortunegiants in Delhi. Cheralathan's High 5 on the night against Season 6's finalists helped his side secure a victory. International A member of the Kabaddi Hall of Fame, Cheralathan holds nine gold medals from events such as the Kabaddi National Championship, the

2017 Southeast Asian Games The 2017 Southeast Asian Games (), officially known as the 29th Southeast Asian Games, or the 29th SEA Games, and commonly known as Kuala Lumpur 2017, were a Southeast Asian multi-sport event that took place from 19 to 30 August 2017 in Kuala ...

and the

Asian Beach Games The Asian Beach Games, also known as ABG, is a multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games have been organized by the Olympic Council of Asia. The Games are described as the second or third largest Asian m ...

Records and achievements

* VIVO Pro Kabaddi Champion (2016) * 2016 Kabaddi World Cup winner * Gold at 2017 Southeast Asian Games * Gold at 2017 Asian Beach Games

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheralathan, Dharmaraj 1975 births Indian male kabaddi players Kabaddi players from Tamil Nadu Living people Tamil sportspeople Pro Kabaddi League players