In a repeat of last season, Haryana Hammers will take on Punjab Royals in the final of the Pro Wrestling League (PWL) Season 4 after local boy Rajneesh clinched the men’s 65kg category bout against Andrey Kviatkovski of Ukraine 9-3 to give last year’s finalist an unbeatable 5-2 lead over Delhi Sultans with two bouts remaining at the Gautam Buddha University Indoor Stadium in Greater Noida on Wednesday.
Rajneesh hit the final nail in Delhi’s coffin after Ravi Kumar, Kiran, Anastasia Nichita and Aleksander Khotsianivski won four off the six bouts played till then.
Ali Shabanov added one more win in Haryana’s kitty when he got the better of Sanjeet Kundu 5-0 in the men’s 86kg category after Sakshi Malik pulled one back for the Delhi Sultans beating Tatyana Omelchenko 6-2 in women’s 62kg category with a dominating performance. Haryana won the tie 6-3 in the end.
Earlier, find of PWL-4 World U23 Championships silver medallist Ravi Kumar put the Haryana Hammers ahead winning the men’s 57kg bout against Delhi’s Pankaj 7-1 which included a beautiful four-point takedown in the first round.
The 2018 CWG bronze medallist Kiran, showing tactical superiority, made it 2-0 in Haryana’s favour defeating the 2018 European U23 champion Anastasia Shustova of Ukraine 6-1 in the women’s 76kg category.
The Russian national champion Khetik Tsabolov made it 1-2 for Delhi Sultans defeating Haryana Hammers’ 2017 Commonwealth Championships silver medallist Praveen Rana 9-0 in the men’s 74kg category.
The world junior champion Anastasia Nichita of Moldova gave Haryana Hammers a healthy 3-1 lead getting the better of Delhi Sultans’ Katherina Zhydachivska 11-2 in what turned out to be a one-sided encounter in the women’s 57kg category.
Aleksander Khotsianivski took the Hammers one more step closer to winning the tie by clinching the men’s 125kg superheavyweight bout against Satender Malik of Delhi on technical superiority. Aleksander won the bout 16-0 in 51 seconds.
National champion Pinki of Delhi delayed the inevitable winning the women’s 53kg bout against Haryana’s 2017 Commonwealth Championships gold medallist Seema 3-1.
Results
Male 57kg: Ravi Kumar (Haryana Hammers) beat Pankaj (Delhi Sultans)
Female 76kg: Kiran (Haryana Hammers) beat Anastasia Shustova (Delhi Sultans)
Male 74kg: Praveen Rana (Haryana Hammers) lost to Khetik Tsabolov (Delhi Sultans)
Female 57kg: Anastasia Nichita (Haryana Hammers) beat Katherina Zhydachivska (Delhi Sultans)
Male 125kg: Aleksander Khotsianivski (Haryana Hammers) beat Satender Malik (Delhi Sultans)
Female 53kg: Seema (Haryana Hammers) lost to Pinki (Delhi Sultans)
Male 65kg: Rajneesh (Haryana Hammers) beat Andrey Kviatkovski (Delhi Sultans)
Female 62kg: Tatyana Omelchenko (Haryana Hammers) lost to Sakshi Malik (Delhi Sultans)
Male 86kg: Ali Shabanov (Haryana Hammers) beat Sanjeet Kundu (Delhi Sultans)
Squad
Haryana Hammers: Seema (53 Kg), Anastasia Nichita (57 Kg), Ravi Kumar (57 Kg), Tayana Omelchenko (62 Kg), Rajnesh (65 Kg), Praveen Rana (74 Kg), Kiran (76 Kg), Ali Shabanov (86 Kg), Khotsianivski Aleksander (125 Kg)
Delhi Sultans: Pinki (53 Kg), Pankaj (57 Kg), Katherina Zhydachivska (57 Kg), Sakshi Malik (58 Kg), kviatkoski Andrey (65 Kg), Khetik Tsabolov (74 Kg), Shustovo Anastasia (76 Kg), Praveen (86 Kg) Satender Malik (125 Kg)