PWL Season 2: Haryana Hammers extend winning run

Haryana Hammers continued their winning streak in the Pro Wrestling League Season 2 by defeating Jaipur Ninjas 5-2 at the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium in the capital on Saturday.

Jaipur secured an early advantage by winning the toss and decided to block the 65kg men’s category. Haryana, in turn, blocked the 48kg women’s category resulting in Jaipur’s Ritu Phogat having to sit out for the tie.

The opening bout of the evening went in favour of Haryana as Russian wrestler Magomed Kurbanaliev registered a comprehensive 12-0 win over Jaipur’s Vinod Kumar Omprakash in the 70kg men’s category.

Jaipur captain Jenny Fransson drew level with Haryana by defeating Kiran 3-0 in the 75kg women’s category. Jenny, leading the Jaipur side in place of Elizbar Odikadze, did a commendable job on the mat as Haryana’s Kiran was unable to withstand the pressure applied on her by the 2016 Olympic bronze medallist.

Haryana bounced back with an action packed third bout that saw captain Abdusalam Gadisov triumph over Jaipur’s Rubaljit Singh Rangi by virtue of technical superiority in the 97kg men’s heavyweight category. Gadisov won the bout 18-2 on  Technical Superiority.

Jaipur’s regular captain Elizbar Odikadze was ruled out of the tie after he sustained an injury following which Rangi was named as his replacement.

Georgian grappler Jakob Makarashvili from the Jaipur camp evened things up with a 3-0 victory over Haryana’s Sumit Sehrawat in the 74kg men’s category.

Haryana Hammers sent Swedish grappler and 2016 Olympics bronze medalist Sofia Mattsson on the mat after this, as she took on Jaipur Ninjas’ Betzabeth Arguello in the 53kg women’s category.

Mattsson opened her account early and kept accumulating points at a rapid pace as she took down Arguello and rolled her over with a double leg hold, also trying to pin her in the process. Not to be outdone, Arguello provided some stiff resistance from her side, but could not match her opponent’s prowess as Mattsson won 11-2 and Haryana went 3-2 up.

The penultimate bout of the evening was contested between Haryana’s Sandeep Tomar and Jaipur’s Utkarsh Kale in the 57kg men’s category. Kale fought with determination and purpose in Jaipur’s crucial bout and managed to take down Tomar in the latter stages of the second round to get the lead.

However, the more experienced Tomar had the final say as he took down Kale with a decisive leg hold and followed it up with a push out to win 5-3. With this victory, Haryana clinched the tie with an unassailable 4-2 lead.