Follow Us
Tribune News Service
Panchkula, January 16
Haryana Hammers had an easy outing against UP Dangal as they started their campaign in the ongoing season of the Pro Wrestling League with a 5-2 win at Tau Devi Lal Indoor Stadium in Panchkula on Wednesday.
The most exciting bout of the day was fought between Ravi Kumar of Haryana Hammers and Naveen of UP Dangal in the 57kg category.
Ravi, the 2018 World U-23 Championships silver medallist, took a one-point lead against the 2018 World Junior Championships silver medallist Naveen after a hard-fought first round.
Naveen tried his best to create an opening in the following rounds but an alert Ravi went on adding point after point and finally clinched the bout 7-2 to open up a 4-2 lead for the Hammers.
Haryana Hammers’ junior world champion Anastasia Nichita then drubbed UP Dangal’s 2017 Asian Championships silver medallist Sarita in front of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to help her side seal a 5-2 win. Anastasia pinned the Indian down to clinch the bout 9-0.
Earlier, the European U-23 silver medalist Iraki Misituri of UP Dangal tried his best to challenge the twice World Championships bronze medalist Ali Shabanov of Haryana Hammers in their men’s 86kg category bout but fell behind by two points after the first round.
The experienced Haryana wrestler kept up the pressure in the second round too and clinched the bout 6-1 to put the Hammers ahead after the first bout of the evening.
The 2018 World Championships silver medal winner Vanesa Kaladzinskaya didn’t have an easy time against the 2017 Commonwealth Championships gold medallist Seema in the 53kg category.
Vanesa took a 2-0 lead at the break and held on to it for most part of the bout. Seema, though, bagged two points towards the close to raise the expectation of the crowd. But Vanesa’s experience came in handy in the end, and she clinched the bout 3-2 to help UP restore parity.
Last year’s national champion Rajneesh fought the most intense bout of the evening against Pankaj Rana in the 65kg weight category.
Rajneesh capitalised on some costly mistakes by the Rana of UP Dangal to clinch the bout on technical superiority and put the Hammers ahead.
The 2018 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Kiran of Hammers was expected to give a tough fight to the Estonian wrestler Epp Mae in the 76kg category, but it was the latter who clinched the technically challenging bout 5-0 to put UP Dangal’s campaign back on track.
In the first super heavyweight bout of the season, Haryana Hammers’ Ukranian wrestler Khotsianivski Aleksander got the better of UP Dangal’s Georgi Sakandelidze 3-0 after an intense battle for supremacy to put his team ahead with two bouts to go.