It was day 9 in the inaugural Pro Wrestling League as the Dilli Veer took on the CDR Punjab Royals at the mammoth Hyatt Regency Hotel in Manesar, Haryana. It was the last fixture in the tournament’s Haryana leg as a record audience packed to the brim witnessed some spectacular wrestling action.
The Dilli Veer were looking to open their account on the points table as they have been winless in their last two games, while the CDR Punjab Royals were searching for their second win in the league.
It was a battle between the Phogat sisters as Vinesh and Geeta Phogat were leading the Delhi and Punjab sides respectively. The action kicked off with the 57 kg clash between Delhi’s Erdenebat Bekhbayar and Punjab’s Vladimir Khinchegashvili, both medalists at the 2015 World Championships.
It was the Georgian who claimed victory in a tight bout, pushing Punjab into a 1-0 lead. Bekhbayar opened the scoring in the first round, but the Punjab man quickly equalized to make it 2-2. In the second round, the Delhi wrestler was awarded a penalty point and looked to hold out for the win, but Khinchegashvili, the reigning World Champion, picked up a couple with ten seconds to go and won the tie 4-3.
Next up was the 69 kg women’s bout, with Nikki taking on the seasoned veteran Vasilisa Marzaliuk. The young Indian was no match for the reigning European Champion as she succumbed to a humbling 10-0 defeat.
The Punjab grappler took an early 2-0 lead and then rolled over Nikki three times in a row to make it 8-0 within the first minute. It was only a matter of time as the Belarus national rounded her downed opponent to make it 10-0 and close out the bout with 15 seconds left in the first round itself, thus doubling Punjab’s overall lead.
Dilli Veer scored their first win in stylish fashion as Uzbekistan’s Navruzov Ikhtiyor outclassed Rajneesh in another 10-0 washout in the 65 kg category bout. The first round saw the Delhi wrestler take a 4-0 lead with some fine attacking moves.
The second one saw some more domination by the Uzbeki as he took advantage of a tiring opponent to put up a late show and claimed six points in the final minute to make it ten points without reply with four seconds left on the clock.
The team from the capital then equalized in the matchup with a tenacious and powerful display by their Turkish import Yesilirmak Elif Jale, who demolished the Punjab skipper Geeta Phogat in the 58 kg category clash. After Geeta made it 1-0 with a pushout, Elif turned up the heat and proved too hot to handle.
She grabbed her opponent and turned her on her back to score four points, and then pinned her down on both shoulders to put an end to Geeta’s misery and bring her team back into the fixture.
The next bout was a heavy-duty one as Indian Krishan Kumar faced off against Punjab’s international signing Jargalsaikhan Chuluunbat in the 125 kg match. It was a comfortable win for the Mongolian as he never looked in trouble even once and cruised to a 4-0 win in the bout.
He led 1-0 after a pushout and made it 3-0 with a vicious grab of Kumar’s right thigh. In the second round, he scored another point from a penalty and easily saw off any advances by his opponent to put his side in the driver’s seat in the overall scoreline.
The penultimate bout saw Delhi skipper Vinesh Phogat defeat her British opponent Yana Rattigan in the 48 kg category clash. It was a pulsating affair, with some exciting moves and reversals by both fighters as the Indian dominated in the second round to win 15-6.
Phogat was leading 3-0 in the first round but a move by Rattigan made it 3-4, but she fought back to win four points of her own and ended the first round at 7-4. In the second round, both grapplers seemed to tire as Phogat reeled off an eight-point streak with some strong moves to end the bout with a nine-point advantage.
With the tie locked at 3-3, everything came down to the final bout between two upcoming stars in the Indian wrestling circuit - Dinesh Kumar for the Dilli Veer and Parveen Rana for the Punjab side.
After a tense first round which ended 1-1, the second round saw Rana take charge as he quickly rounded Kumar and then rolled him over to earn a quickfire four points and take a 5-1 lead. It turned out be the turning point as Kumar failed to trouble Rana and lost the bout at a final score of 6-2.
The Punjab Royals claimed a narrow win to make it two wins out of three while the Dilli Veer remain pointless on the table despite a spirited display.
