With the Mangalayatan University Delhi Veer still winless nearing the completion of the group stages, their captain and Icon player Vinesh was understandably praying for the toss to go their way leading up to the action on Day 14 of the Pro Wrestling League that saw the Delhi Veer pitted against the home team, the JSW Bengaluru Yodhas.
After winning the toss, a palpably relieved Vinesh Phogat chose to block out the Women’s 69 Kg category while her counterpart Narsingh Yadhav blocked out the Men’s 97Kg weight class.
The men’s bout in the 57 Kg category that kicked off the night’s action saw the home team open with Sandeep Tomar taking to the mat against Erdenebat Bekhabayar of the Delhi outfit. Despite the Indian pressing the attack early, Bekhabayar defended masterfully and picked up a penalty point as well to close out the first round at 1-0 to the Delhi Veer.
The second round began in somewhat reverse fashion with Bekhabayar pushing the attack as he took Tomar’s back thrice in quick succession to race to an unanswered lead of 7-0 to give Delhi Veer just the start they had hoped for.
The second match-up of the night featured the women’s 53Kg category that saw Bengaluru Yodha’s Lalita Sherawat step up against Horishna Lilia representing the Delhi Veer.
The bout set a frenetic pace from the onset as Lilia took an early 5-0 lead before Lalita immediately responded by not only closing out the lead but also by taking a 6-5 lead. However, the Delhi grappler was quick in her response as well by taking Sherawat’s back to edge out the first round 7-6.
Lilia continued with her momentum in the second round as she furthered her lead by 4 more points and held off Lalita’s attacks to take the match 11-6 and give the Mangalyatan Delhi Veer a dream start with an overall score of 2-0 on the night.
The heavyweights were up next, featuring the men’s 125Kg category, with the 2012 Olympic Games Silver Medalist Modzmanashvili Davit taking on Krishan Kumar of the Delhi Veer.
The bout only took a little over a minute to attain completion as Davit easily outmuscled his opponent and rag dolled Krishan Kumar to take a 10-0 lead and win via technical superiority, thereby also giving the home team their first win of the night.
The fourth match-up was a foreign affair with Yulia Ratkevich from Azerbaijan representing Bengaluru Yodhas against the Turkish grappler Yesilirmak Elif Jale in the women’s 58 Kg category.
After a very cautious start from both women, it was Elif who opened the scoring by stuffing Yulia’s attempted single leg to establish a slender 1-0 lead for the Delhi Veer going into the break.
The second round began much in the same reserved manner of the first, before Yulia evened up the scores at 1-1 and then went on to take her opponent’s back to take a 3-1 lead.
Despite Elif’s desperate attempts to equalize the scoreline, Yulia held on firmly to pull off an upset victory and even up the overall scores for the Bengaluru Yodhas at 2-2 on the night.
It was the home team captain and Icon player Narsingh Yadav who kicked off proceedings against Dinesh Kumar of the Delhi Veer in the 5th bout of the night for the men’s 74Kg weight class. Surprisingly, it was the unfancied Dinesh Kumar who made early inroads after forcing Narsingh out of bounds to take a 1-0 lead first up.
He quickly followed that up by taking Narsingh’s back to take a 3-0 lead before the home team captain turned the tide of the match in the matter of a few seconds by first countering Dinesh Kumar not once but twice to head into the break leading 4-3.
Narsingh Yadav picked up in the second where he left off in the first round as he rarely gave Dinesh Kumar a sniff by asserting his dominance and closing out the bout with a resounding scoreline of 8-4 to give the JSW Bengaluru Yodhas their third win on the trot and a 3-2 lead in the overall scores.
The penultimate match-up of the night featuring Alyssa Lampe of the USA and the Bengaluru Yodhas against the Delhi outfit’s captain and Icon player Vinesh Phogat was in the women’s 48 Kg category.
With this match being a must-win for the Delhi team in order to stand a chance of emerging victorious on the night, their captain came out with all guns blazing and imposed her will on Alyssa Lampe by closing out another one-sided bout on the night with a 10-0 victory via technical superiority in just a minute and 46 seconds of the first round.
With both teams tied at 3 points apiece and 6 bouts accounted for, the final match-up of the night bore immense significance for both teams as Indian youngster Bajrang Punia stepped up to the mat for the Bengaluru Yodhas against the Delhi Veer’s Uzbekistani representative Navruzov Ikhtiyor.
With his mentor and Haryana Hammers captain Jogeshwar Dutt eagerly shouting instructions from the sidelines, it was Bajrang Punia who took the early lead by 1 point after manoeuvring his opponent out of bounds.
However, his lead was short lived as Ikhtiyor shot back almost immediately to not only draw level, but also establish a 3-1 lead going into the break.
Despite Punia’s desperate attempts to cut the lead in the second round, Ikhtiyor displayed stellar defence as he kept countering the Indian’s attacks to race to a 7-1 lead with lesser than 1 minute of the round contested.
He furthered his lead by one more point before capitalizing on a visibly defeated Punia to take an unassailable 10-1 lead and close out a surprisingly dominant final bout of the night and give the Mangalayatan Delhi Veer a 4-3 overall victory.
Despite the raucous home support afforded to the JSW Bengaluru Yodhas, it was the Delhi Veer who persevered and prevailed at the end of the closely fought tie to register their first points on the scoreboard on an eventful Day 14 of the Pro Wrestling League.
Mangalayatan University Dilli Veer vs Bengaluru Yodhas | ||||
Day 14 - Pro Wrestling League | ||||
Mangalayatan University Dilli Veer | Bengaluru Yodhas | |||
Weight Category | Name of Wrestler | Points | Name of Wrestler | Points |
57 kgs | Erdenebat Bekhbayar | 7 | Sandeep Tomar | 0 |
53 kgs | Liliya Horishna | 11 | Lalita Sherawat | 6 |
125 Kgs | Krishan Kumar | 0 | Modzmanashvili Davit | 10 |
58 kgs | Yesilirmak Elif Jale | 1 | Yulia Ratkevich | 3 |
74 kgs | Dinesh Kumar | 4 | Narsingh Yadav | 8 |
48 kgs | Vinesh Phogat | 10 | Alyssa Lampe | 0 |
65 kgs | Navruzov Ikhtiyor | 10 | Bajrang Punia | 1 |
Below is the updated points table:
| Pro Wrestling League - Points Table | |||||
| Team | Matches Played | Won | Lost | PD | Points |
| Revanta's Mumbai Garuda | 4 | 4 | 0 | 12 | 8 |
| CDR Punjab Royals | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| Haryana Hammers | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Bengaluru Yodhas | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Mangalayatan University Dilli Veer | 5 | 1 | 4 | -7 | 2 |
| UP Warriors | 5 | 1 | 4 | -13 | 2 |
