In a small village in Haryana, a young boy nicknamed 'Nanha' – meaning small – would spend his days watching older kids practice kabaddi. Little did anyone know that this curious child would one day become one of the sport's rising stars. He will now enter his third season with the Tamil Thalaivas, having made his debut with the side in season 9. The side will kickstart their campaign against the Telugu Titans on the first match of October 19.

"Even now, in the village, everyone who used to play with me calls me by my nickname 'Nanha'," remembers Narender. "I wasn't very tall as a kid, which is why the name stuck. Now I have a decent height, but the name still remains," he said in PKL’s ‘Rise of a Star’ interview on YouTube Narender's journey into kabaddi began like a scene from a heartwarming sports movie. "As a kid, I was drawn to the kabaddi grounds where the older boys played," he recounts. "What started as fun with the senior players soon became a passion. At first, I was just a spectator who didn’t have many friends, but before I knew it, kabaddi gave me a family."