Greater Noida, Jan 31 (UNI) It was fourth time lucky for Haryana as they hammered Punjab Royals 6-3 to win the Pro Wrestling League (PWL) Season 4 title at the Gautam Buddha University Indoor Stadium in Greater Noida on Thursday.
Riding on Aleksander Khotsianivski, Ali Shabanov, Kiran, Ravi Kumar and Anastasia Nichita’s dominating performance, the runners-up in the last three editions, Haryana Hammers, turned the tables on the defending champions Punjab Royals winning all the first five bouts of the evening to clinch the title.
So dominating was Haryana’s performance that Punjab’s campaign ended even before their star player Bajrang Punia could take the stage. The Asian Games gold medallist and Padma Shri Bajrang Punia scored an impressive 11-0 win over Rajneesh but it was too little too late in the day.
It was Khotsianivski of Ukraine who put the Hammers on road to victory winning the 125kg super heavyweight bout against Canadian Korey Jarvis 3-0. Shabanov got his revenge and also broke Dato Marsagishvili’s unbeaten run to win the men’s 86kg bout 4-3 and give the Hammers a 2-0 lead.
The 2018 CWG bronze medallist Kiran made it 3-0 for Haryana Hammers defeating the 2018 European Championships bronze medallist France’s Cynthia Vescan 3-1 in the women’s 76kg category. After that, the 2018 World U-23 Championships silver medallist Ravi put Haryana 4-0 ahead in the tie after his comprehensive 8-0 win over Nitin Rathi.
The World junior champion Anastasia won it for Haryana Hammers after she came back from 2-4 deficit to beat the 2018 European Championships runners-up Mimi Hristova with a pin fall to clinch the bout and the tie.
In the remaining bouts, Punjab’s Amit Dhanker won the 74kg contest against Praveen Rana 5-2, Anju added one more win to Punjab’s tally defeating Seema 10-5 in the 53kg category while Haryana’s Tatyana Omelchenko won the women’s 62kg category bout against Seema 9-0 to complete Haryana’s winning tally.
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