Olympic medallist Yogeshwar Dutt and current world champion Oksana Herhel lived up to their reputation as Haryana Hammers defeated Dilli Veers 5-2 on the third day of the inaugural edition of the Pro
Olympic medallist Yogeshwar Dutt and current world champion Oksana Herhel lived up to their reputation as Haryana Hammers defeated Dilli Veers 5-2 on the third day of the inaugural edition of the Pro Wrestling League in the capital on Saturday.
Dilli Veer’s saving grace was India international Vinesh Phogat, who won her bout comfortably even as others struggled.
In a closely-fought battle, Yogeshwar — returning from a knee injury — put up a tough fight against world championship silver medallist Navruzov Ikhtiyor of Uzbekistan, representing Dilli Veers, to eke out a 3-2 win in the men’s 65kg category.
With Haryana already having won the contest before Yogeshwar took the mat for the much-awaited bout, the London Olympic bronze medallist took time to get into rhythm.
In the opening round, Yogeshwar managed to earn a point after the Uzbek wrestler got a warning from the referee, but it was enough to give the Indian a cushion of a 1-0 lead at the break.
In the second round, the grappler from Sonepat tried to overpower his opponent and managed to register two points. But in the end, Ikhtiyor earned back a point by pushing Yogeshwar out of the mat to reduced the margin.
“I was under pressure coming to fight after a long time. I took time to get my rhythm and am happy to have won this one. It boosted my confidence,” Yogeshwar said later.
“It was good to fight a world championship silver medallist and this would certainly give me a lot of confidence,” he added.
Supported by friend and compatriot Bajrang Punia of the Bengaluru Yodhas, and presence of his mother Sushila for the first time at a venue, Yogeshwar finally prevailed over his opponent.
Earlier, Ukraine’s Herhel, PWL’s costliest buy at '4.13 million representing Haryana Hammers justified her top billing getting the better of Yesilirmak Elif Jale of Dilli Veer 6-1 in the women’s 58kg category.
In a battle between this year’s World championship gold medallist Oksana and bronze medallist Yesilirmak, the first round was a hard-fought affair.
At the end of round one, Yesilirmak managed to earn a point to take a 1-0 lead. But Oksana came back strongly in the second and put her experience to good use.
It, however, turned out to be an easy outing for Dilli Veer’s Vinesh, who took just 2:35 minutes to down her compatriot Nirmala Devi of Haryana 10-0 in the women’s 48kg.
Earlier, Dinesh Kumar of Dilli Veer proved to be no match for Livan Lopez Azcuy in the men’s 74kg losing 0-7, while local team’s Gurpal Singh defeated Haryana’s Yuri Maler to make it 1-1. From there on, Haryana won three bouts on the trot to take an upper hand.
