PWL: Haryana Hammers set up title clash with Punjab Royals

Greater Noida, January 30: 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. This is Haryana’s fourth entry into the final missing it on every occasion while Punjab will look to make a hat-trick of wins here on Thursday.

Ali Shabanov added one more win to Haryana’s kitty when he got the better of Sanjit Kundu 5-0 in the men’s 86kg category after Sakshi Malik pulled one back for the Delhi Sultans beating Tatiana 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 super heavyweight 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

57kgM: Ravi Kumar (Haryana Hammers) beat Pankaj (Delhi Sultans)

76kgF: Kiran (Haryana Hammers) beat Anastasia Shustova (Delhi Sultans)

74kgM: Praveen Rana (Haryana Hammers) lost to Khetik Tsabolov (Delhi Sultans)

57kgF: Anastasia Nichita (Haryana Hammers) beat Katherina Zhydachivska (Delhi Sultans)

125kgM: Aleksander Khotsianivski (Haryana Hammers) beat Satender Malik (Delhi Sultans)

53kgF: Seema (Haryana Hammers) lost to Pinki (Delhi Sultans)

65kgM: Rajneesh (Haryana Hammers) beat Andrey Kviatkovski (Delhi Sultans)

62kgF: Tatyana Omelchenko (Haryana Hammers) lost to Sakshi Malik (Delhi Sultans)

86kgM: Ali Shabanov (Haryana Hammers) beat Sanjit Kundu (Delhi Sultans)

Source: Press Release