The first week of the inaugural Pro Wrestling League culminated with the Haryana Hammers facing off against the Bengaluru Royals in the sprawling Hyatt Regency Hotel in Manesar, Haryana. The Royals will be looking to bounce back after losing to the Mumbai Garuda, while the Hammers are coming off the back of a comfortable win over Delhi.
The tie kicked off with the 57 kg men’s category with Haryana’s Nitin Rathee facing off against 2013 Commonwealth Championships gold medalist Sandeep Tomar. Rathee edged out his opponent in a thrilling contest, as the bout came to life in the second round.
After an even first round which ended 0-1 to the Royals wrestler, Rathee made it 2-1 early into the second round.
Then in a stunning procedure, he reeled off five points to make it 7-1 and looked to have sealed the game. But much to Tomar’s credit, he pushed out Rathee out of the playing area multiple times and one point at a time to make it 7-6 with over a minute left.
Rathee then reversed an advance to gain a crucial two points, which ultimately won him the tie 9-8, as Tomar could only recover two more points as the clock struck the six-minute mark.
The next bout saw Tatyana Kit for the Hammers up against Lalita Sherawat in the 53 kg in a completely one-sided tie as the Ukrainian overpowered her Indian counterpart. The first round ended 4-0 in favour of Kit, who then steamrolled Sherawat early in the next round and pinned her down on her shoulders, which prompted the referee to end the bout and award the win to the Haryana grappler, thus doubling their lead in the tie.
Next up was an all-foreign affair between Argentina’s Yuri Maier and Ukrainian Pavlo Oliynik, who was crowned European Champion in 2013, in the 97 kg category. Oliynik, representing Bengaluru, swiftly brought his team back into the matchup as he crushed Maier in just over two minutes as he accumulated a ten-point lead.
Two attacks on his opponent’s left leg saw the man from Ukraine take a 4-0 lead, after which he promptly downed and rolled him over to make it 8-0. The lead quickly became 10-0 on the 2:09 mark, after which the game was stopped.
The fourth bout of the tie was contested between veteran Geetika Jakhar, representing the Hammers and 25-year old Navjot Kaur of the Royals in the 69 kg category. Haryana took a 3-1 lead in the tie after a seesaw battle between the two Indians.
After a penalty each for both wrestlers, the bout was locked at 1-1 in the second round when Navjot made it 3-1, much to the disappointment of the home crowd. But with just four seconds left, Geetika equalized with a telling waist grab and won the bout by virtue of winning the last points.
Next, we had the most-awaited bout of the tie as Bajrang Punia faced off against Haryana’s Yogeshwar Dutt in a 65kg category clash that was a must-win one for the Royals. It was an emotionally charged occasion for both grapplers as the bronze medalist in the 2012 London Olympics edged out Bajrang 3-2 to seal a second overall win for the Haryana Hammers.
The first round was evenly fought with Dutt leading 1-0, but Bajrang then reversed a right ankle grab to make it 1-2. It looked like he would hold on for the win, but Dutt showed his class with a telling move 20 seconds from the final whistle to gain two points and win the bout 3-2 as the crowd went absolutely wild.
The penultimate bout of the tie was another clash of the titans in the 58 kg category as Ukrainian Oksana Herhel, the world number one and reigning world champion was up against Yulia Ratkevich, who won bronze in the 2012 Olympics.
However, the game was a total washout as the Royals’ Ratkevich completely dominated her decorated opponent and sealed the win at the four-minute mark. After a 5-0 rout in the first half, the Azerbaijan national made it 7-0 within 15 seconds of the second and closed out the bout with a powerful move that won her four points, thus ending the fight at a resounding 11-0 scoreline.
The final match was contested in the 74 kg category between the Hammers’ Cuban Livan Lopez Azcuy and 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medalist Narsingh Yadav, representing the Bengaluru side. The Indian clinched the win with a stunning late display as he turned what looked like a shock defeat to a wonderful victory.
He was in a comfortable 4-0 lead in the second round, but Lopez turned the tables and clinched five straight points to stun Yadav. But the drama was not over as the Royals man took four points in quick succession in the last few seconds of the bout to claim an 8-5 triumph.
The Hammers clinched their second win in a row, but credit to the Royals who showed resolve to keep the scoreline at a respectable 4-3.
