Pro Wrestling League: Haryana Hammers beat MP Yodha
Ludhiana, Jan 19 (PTI) 2018 World U-23 Championships silver medallist Ravi Kumar beat Sandeep Tomar in the men's 57kg category to hand Haryana Hammers a 4-3 win over MP Yodha in a Pro Wrestling match here on Saturday.
It was Haryana Hammers' second win in this year's PWL.
Junior world champion Anastasia Nichita of Haryana Hammers won an important bout against Pooja Dhanda in a high-class action-packed encounter where the pendulum swung constantly from one side to the other.
Pooja, known for her memorable comebacks, was trailing 0-3 after first round but the world champion didn't let the Indian dictate terms and hung on to finally win the bout 8-7 and push the tie to the decider.
Earlier, the 2018 World Championships bronze medallist Ali Shabanov of Haryana Hammers played an aggressive first round in his 86kg bout against the 2017 Commonwealth Championships gold medallist Deepak of MP Yodha and pocketed eight points in a combination of take downs and near falls.
Shabanov didn't give Deepak any chance of a comeback in the second round and put the Hammers 1-0 ahead.
MP Yodha's Colombian wrestler Andrea Olaya clinched the keenly fought women's 76kg bout against the 2018 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Kiran after some drama.
Kiran was leading 3-1 with just 30 seconds to go on the clock but the Colombian not only broke Kiran's resistance but also bagged three more points with a near fall to win 6-3 and tie the match score at 1-1.
The 65kg men's bout between MP Yodha's European Championships gold medallist from Azerbaijan Haji Aliyev and national champion Rajneesh was much more closely fought than the final score line suggests.
At 2-1 it almost looked like Rajneesh is on his way to cause a major upset, but Aliyev's experience helped him win the bout 5-2 with an escape and a takedown that put Yodha's ahead in the tie.
The best bout of the evening happened between MP Yodha's 2018 European Championships silver medallist Elise Monolova and 2018 European Championships bronze medallist Tatyana Omelchenko of Haryana Hammers in the female 62kg category.
Both the Azerbaijan wrestlers showed tremendous skills and excellent manoeuvres before Tatyana clinched the bout 6-5 and help Haryana Hammers restore parity at 2-2.
In a dramatic comeback, Vasil Mikhailov put MP Yodha ahead snatching victory from the jaws of defeat against Praveen Rana of Haryana Hammers in the men's 74kg category.
In a high-powered bout Mikhailov was trailing 5-6 with less than 10 seconds on the clock, but he turned it around with a near fall and win the bout 7-6