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The eighth day of the first ever Pro Wrestling League saw the resurgent UP Warriors take on the high-flying and unbeaten Mumbai Garuda at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Manesar, Haryana in front of a sellout crowd.
The tie kicked off with the 74kg category bout between Purvevjav Unurbut and Pardeep Kumar, who were representing UP and Mumbai respectively. It was all over in the first round itself as the Mongolian completely outclassed his Indian opponent.
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After Kumar took an early 0-1 lead, Unurbut responded in fine fashion to overturn the deficit with a fine pickup. The sucker punch was delivered soon afterwards as Kumar was easily picked up and tossed around twice, a sequence which gave the UP wrestler a total of eight points.
With the score at 12-1, the bout was awarded to the Mongolian as the lead exceeded ten points.
Next up was a 58 kg all-Indian affair with UP’s Sarita taking on Sakshi Malik, who won silver at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. It was a tense and hard-fought bout which saw some strong defense by both grapplers.
Sakshi went into the second round with a 1-0 lead and instantly made it 3-0 after lifting Sarita off her feet and subsequently depositing her on the mat. The UP wrestler came back to make it 3-2 and with 90 seconds to go, she could not break through Sakshi’s stonewall defense who held on for the narrow win as Mumbai made it 1-1 in the tie.
The third bout saw Mumbai’s Rahul Aware completely sweep UP’s Jaideep off the mat in the 57 kg category. Aware showed why he is a Commonwealth Games gold medalist as he demolished Jaideep 11-0 to push the Garuda into the overall lead.
Like a packet of Maggi, the bout came to life at the two-minute mark as Jaideep was penalized. Aware made a quick reversal and downed his opponent to take a 3-0 lead before rolling him over thrice to make it an astounding 9-0. In the second round, another classy reversal saw him close out the bout as the margin widened to over ten points.
With the Warriors down in the tie, it was captain Babita Kumari who stepped up to the mat to face Odunayo Adekuoroye in the 53 kg category. Things did not go as per plan for her as she was completely blown over by the athleticism and reach of the Nigerian who crushed Babita 10-0 to extend Mumbai’s lead.
She led 4-0 in the first round and swiftly pounced 15 seconds into the second to round Kumari and make it 6-0. Then, she seized hold of her rival’s legs and rolled her over twice to gain four points and put an end to Babita’s misery.
Mumbai Garuda sealed victory in emphatic fashion as in the 97 kg category, Odikadze Elizbar pounded India’s Satyavrat Kadian with Mumbai’s second 10-0 win in a row. Kadian, who had won silver in the 2014 CWG, was no match for the powerful Georgian. Elizbar produced a second-round blitz to reel off a spectacular win in the fifth bout of the tie. After a 1-0 lead in the first round, he turned up the heat and rounded Kadian to make it 3-0 and subsequently rolled him over twice to open up a 7-0 gap. After a penalty point, the burly Elizbar gained another couple to finish the bout with 15 seconds to go.
The penultimate bout saw another 10-0 washout in Mumbai’s favour as captain Adeline Gray recovered from an early scare to outmuscle her opponent Alina Stadinik Makhinia in the 69 kg category. She recovered from an early ankle hold to reverse her opponent’s advance and made it 2-0 after 30 seconds.
She soon made it 4-0 and then 6-0 with a beautiful reversal. The killer blow was delivered just after as she rolled her Ukranian counterpart twice to register a ten point lead within two minutes and put Mumbai into a 5-1 lead.
UP managed to get a consolation win after their Mongolian import Ganzorig Mandakhnran won a thrilling bout against Indian Amit Dhankar. The Mumbai man led 0-1 at the break but Mandakhnran displayed some great guile and strength to make it 5-1.
Dhankar then resorted to pushing his opponent out of the playing area and point-by-point, he made it 5-4 with a minute to go. The UP man made it 7-4 and with just seven seconds left, Dhankar equalized with a stunning move to make it seven points apiece.
Mandakhnran was awarded the win by virtue of better technique and scoring moves, which meant that on the day, it was the Mumbai Garuda who claimed their third win on the trot with a 5-2 scoreline.
