PWL 2: Ninjas first to book semis slot

Jaipur Ninjas registered a 4-3 win over UP Dangal to book their semi-final berth in the Pro Wrestling League Season 2 at the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium here on Thursday.

UP won the toss and decided to block the 57kg men’s category, thereby preventing Jaipur’s impressive Utkarsh Kale from participating in the tie.

UP blocked the 75kg women’s category, so Jaipur’s key player Jenny Fransson had to sit out.

With this victory, Jaipur Ninjas became the first team to qualify for the semi-finals of PWL-2 with six points from their four games.

Meanwhile, just two days after being declared fit, star wrestler Geeta Phogat shied away from taking the mat once again for UP Dangal, this time also on “medical grounds”.

In her place the Dangals fielded Manisha, who had lost her previous bout 1-9 to Mumbai Maharathi’s Sarita.

UP, who are yet to win a tie this season, banked on Tariel Gaphrindashvili’s youth and exuberance against the more seasoned Jakob Makarashvili in the opening bout.

Although Gaphrindashvili used a double leg hold to score points, Makarashvili turned it around and took him down, getting a 2-0 lead going into Round 2.

Gaphrindashvili began the next round aggressively, taking down Makarashvili, before the latter effected two clean takedowns to establish a lead. Makarashvili held his nerve to win 6-4 in the 74kg men’s category.

Jaipur’s Pooja Dhanda then defeated UP youngster Manisha 8-4 in the 58kg women’s category.

UP made a comeback as Andrey Kviatkovski prevailed over Jaipur’s Rahul Mann 8-4 in a closely-fought 65kg men’s category.

Jaipur came back strongly in the tie as Venezuelan wrestler Betzabeth Arguello handed a 8-1 defeat to UP’s Pinki, who has replaced Babita Kumari for the remainder of the league, in the 53kg category.

Jaipur captain Elizbar Odikadze clinched the tie in his team’s favour, beating UP’s Mausam Khatri 5-2 in the 97kg heavyweight men’s category and continued his unbeaten run in the tournament.

Khatri attempted to score points towards the end of the bout, but Odikadze held firm, giving Jaipur an unassailable 4-1 lead in the tie.

The most exciting and action-packed bout of the evening was between UP captain Elitsa Yankova and Jaipur’s Ritu Phogat.

Yankova was defensive to begin with but came on her own to win 12-8 in the 48kg women’s category.

UP Dangal salvaged some pride by scoring their third win of the evening as Amit Dhankar overcame a strong challenge from Vinod Kumar Omprakash to win 4-2 in the 70kg men’s category.