Defending champions Punjab Royals script first win

Anil Datt

Ludhiana, January 21

Defending champions, Punjab Royals fought it tooth and nail against Delhi Sultans before scripting the maiden victory in the Pro Wrestling League (PWL) season-4 currently underway at the Municipal Corporation Indoor Stadium on Pakhowal Road.

Last edition champions, Punjab Royals were stretched to the last bout of the evening to decide the winners 4-3 in the second leg of the league.

It was Bajrang Punia of Punjab Royals who didn’t let the home fans down winning the decider against Andrey Kviatkovski of Delhi Sultans 9-0 in the 65-kg encounter and steered his team win the tie 4-3.

After the reversal of fortunes in the last encounter against Mumbai Maharathis, this was a much-needed win for the defending champions.

In the sixth bout, Rio Olympics bronze medallist, Delhi’s Sakshi Malik faced a little resistence while defeating 2018 national championship silver medallist, Punjab’s Anita 11-0 and push the tie to the decider. This was a much improved performance by Sakshi than the one she had against Navjot Kaur of UP Dangal on Saturday.

Earlier, the 2017-18 World Military Championship gold medallist, Russian Khetik Tsabalov of Delhi Sultans won the first bout of the evening against the Asian Championship bronze medallist, Punjab Royals’ Vinod Kumar 14-0 after the referee awarded the bout to the former mid-way through the second round due to technical superiority. Khetik was leading 10-0 at the break.

In the 76-kg weight category, Punjab Royals’ 2018 European Championship bronze medallist, Cynthia Vescan withstood a tough challenge from the 2018 European U-23 Championship gold medallist, Anastasia Shustova of Delhi Sultans to win the bout 2-1 and restore parity for the defending champions.

In the men’s 86-kg category, the 2016 European Championship bronze medallist Dato Magarisvili of the Punjab Royals dismissed last year’s national champion Praveen of Delhi Sultans scoring an emphatic 12-0 win in just two minutes.

National champion, Delhi Sultans’ Pinki defeated national runners-up Punjab Royals’ Anju in the 53-kg bout between two familiar foes. Pinki was coming to this bout riding on the wave of an upset win over World Champion, Vanesa Kaladzinskaya in the previous round. Anju gave Pinki a good run for her money before succumbing 4-9. Both teams were two wins apiece at this stage.

The 2018 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Korey Jarvis of the Punjab Royals won the 125-kg bout against Delhi Sultans Satender Malik 7-2 despite the Indian holding the Canadian at bay for most part of the bout.

Tuesday’s Preview: Sultans look to end Hammers’ winning spree

Ludhiana: All eyes would be on international Sakshi Malik’s clash with Tayana Omelchenko of Azerbaijan when Delhi Sultans take on Haryana Hammers on Tuesday in the Pro Wrestling League (PWL) season 4. Runners-up in last three seasons, Haryana Hammers are on a winning spree right now having defeated UP Dangal and MP Yodha in their previous encounters whereas Delhi has had a rollercoaster ride so far having lost against MP Yodha, winning against UP and then again going down to Punjab Royals. Interestingly, there are two foreigners in the women’s 62kg weight category in PWL-4, and both of them are from Azerbaijan and both of them are medal winners in the world championships. In Delhi’s clash against MP, that category was blocked preventing the Sakshi-Elise Manolova bout from taking place. But this time, fans would expect Sakshi to get the better of Tayana and put an end to the European domination in this group. Apart from this, the women’s 53kg clash between Seema of Haryana Hammers and Delhi’s Pinki is also expected to be a cracker of a contest. Pinki has been on a roll at the moment and she has reasons to be confident having beaten the 2017 world champion Vanesa Kaladzinskaya in an earlier clash. Haryana Hammers’ Ravi Kumar, who defeated experienced Sandeep Tomar in an one-sided encounter in his last bout, definitely holds an edge over Delhi’s Pankaj in the 57-kg category. Rajneesh, who is coming back from an injury looks to be in great form at the moment and is eager to cause an upset by beating Andrey Kviatkoski in the 65-kg category. The Hammers co-owner Bhupender said his team was the most balanced team and it would leave no stones unturned to win the title this year. Delhi coach Sujeet Maan said that Pinki is making up for Katherina Zhydachivska’s lack of form this season and he is expecting the Romanian to come good in their match against Haryana.