Haryana, Mumbai clash for title

Haryana Hammers entered the final of the Pro Wrestling League edging out Punjab Royals 4-3 in a thrilling semi-final in New Delhi on Saturday. In the final, Hammers clash with table toppers Mumbai Garuda.

Punjab took a 2-0 lead after winning the first two bouts before Haryana tied the scores by bagging the next two in front of a full house crowd of close to 5,000 at the Indira Gandhi International Stadium.

The teams went one each as the match went down to the wire in a fitting semi-final.The decider was won by Haryana’s Livan Lopez Azcuy 5-1 against Punjab’s Praveen Rana, who got injured in the beginning of the bout and it was seemed difficult for him to make a comeback.

Although Rana showed a lot of character, he failed to topple his Cuban opponent.In the absence of injured captain Yogeshwar Dutt, Hammers fielded little-known Vishal Rana against Rajneesh of Punjab Royals in the men’s 65kg category.

It turned out to be a one-sided contest as Rajneesh overpowered Vishal 12-2 on technical superiority in just four minutes and 32 seconds.

Royals’ Vasilisa Marzaliuk prevailed 4-0 over Geetika Jhakhar of Haryana in the women’s 69kg before Hammers’ Andriitesey Valerii outplayed Mausam Khatri of the Royals 5-4 by fall verdict in a brilliant come-from-behind win in the men’s 97kg bout

Khatri led 4-1 after the first round and maintained an edge in the second, but the Ukrainian grappler turned the tables by throwing the India straight down on the mat on his back. In a similar fashion, Haryana’s stand-in-skipper Tatyana Kit, a world championship bronze medallist, also came back from behind to register a 5-4 by fall victory over Royals’ Priyanka Phogat in the women’s 53kg section.

In the men’s 125kg, Punjab’s Jargalsaikhan Chuluubat posted a comfortable 5-1 win over Hitender while world champion in the women’s 58kg, Oksana Herhel, took just two minutes and 25 seconds to down Punjab icon player and captain Geeta Phogat 4-0 by fall to take the match to the decider.

Later, Azcuy took a 2-0 lead and then extended it to 5-1 over Praveen in the men’s 74kg,