Riding on Pankaj Rana and Nirmla Devi’s brilliant show, Punjab Royals entered the final of the Pro Wrestling League Season 2, beating defending champions Mumbai Maharathi 5-4 in the second semi-final in the capital on Wednesday.
Punjab Royals take on Haryana Hammers for the title.
In the league stage too, Punjab had beaten Mumbai 4-3, but with no block option in the semi-final, the contest gave both teams an equal chance to make the final with their best wrestlers in action.
Punjab reigned supreme with their overseas imports Odunayo Folasade Adekuoroye, Vladimir Khinchegashvili and Ilias Bekbukatov, besides home wrestlers Nirmla and Pankaj making their presence felt.
Mumbai took the early lead as Jabrayil Hasanov raced off to an explosive start in the opening bout, the Azerbaijani wrestler beating Punjab’s Jitendra 18-2 in the men’s 74kg category.
Punjab won the second bout as Odunayo overpowered Mumbai’s Lalita Sehrawat 16-0 by virtue of technical superiority in women’s 53kg.
Lalita put up a brave fight against Odunayo, who is in fine form this season. The Nigerian grappler, who had proved her mettle by beating Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sofia Mattsson of Haryana Hammers in the last group stage game, wowed the spectators with her characteristic victory dance.
Another key Punjab player, Vladimir of Georgia, who had won four out of his five bouts before this, prevailed over Mumbai’s Rahul Aware 12-5 in men’s 57kg.
Captain Erica Wiebe scored the equaliser for Mumbai as the Olympic gold medallist eked out a 2-1 win over Vasilisa Marzaliuk of Punjab in the women’s 75kg.
The next bout was over in just one minute and 17 seconds as Russian grappler Ilias Bekbukatov finished the proceedings in a clinical fashion with a 17-0 win via technical superiority over Vikas of Mumbai in the men’s 65kg, to give Punjab a 3-2 lead.
Pavlo Oliynik brought Mumbai back into the match with a 12-0 win over Krishan Kumar in the men’s 97kg.
With scores tied at 3-3, Nirmla Devi gave Punjab the upper hand with a 2-1 win over Carolina Castillo Hidalgo of Colombia in the women’s 48kg.
In the men’s 70kg category, Pankaj Rana posted a come-from-behind 9-8 win over Pritam in a topsy-turvy battle.
In the final inconsequential bout, Mumbai’s Sarita defeated Manju Kumari 9-0 in women’s 58kg.
