Bengaluru Yodhas hand UP Warriors a thrashing in PWL encounter
Bengaluru Yodhas defeated UP Warriors 6-1 in their opening match of the Pro Wrestling League (PWL) at the KD Jadhav stadium in New Delhi on Friday. With icon player Sushil Kumar rumoured to have withdrawn from the league, UP Warriors suffered defeat after defeat in the match with Babita Kumari’s victory being their only consolation.
Bengaluru Yodhas won the toss at the beginning of the game to block out the women’s 69kg, while UP Warriros blocked out men’s 125kg category.
In the first bout of the day, Sandeep Tomar of Bengaluru Yodhas took on UP Warrior’s Sergey Ratushny of Ukraine in the men’s 57kg category. Sandeep made a brilliant opening to the match by pushing Ratushny off the mat to register two points to his name. The Indian doubled his score within 30 seconds as he side-stepped the Ukrainian to execute a leg-lock. Seconds before the end of the first period, Ratushny mounted a comeback by taking town Sandeep to register two points. The second period saw both wrestlers standing their ground as the clock ticked down. Sandeep held his nerve in the final seconds to register an impressive 4-2 victory and to give Bengaluru the lead.
Another Indian Bajrang Punia was the next man on the mat for Bengaluru to take on Rahul Maan of UP in the Men’s 65kg category. 2013 World championship bronze medallist Bajrang started the bout on the front foot by opening his account with a swift leg-lock to pick up three points. Rahul Mann countered his rival by picking two points to his name before Bajrang showed his prowess with a take-down to go 6-2 up. A hapless Mann again went down in the second round as Bajrang climbed to a 10-2 lead. The Bengaluru wrestler won the bout 10-2 to give his team a 2-0 lead.
The third bout turned out to be a fight between the foreign wrestlers as Alyssa Lampe of USA took on Kogut Oleksandra of Ukraine in the women’s 48kg category. The Ukrainian, playing for UP, registered the first points of the match with a take-down against Bengaluru’s Lampe. Kogut doubled her lead before the break to go 4-0 up with another take-down. The American wrestler, however, turned things around as she started the second round with a leg-attack to decrease the deficit by two points. With 90 seconds to go, Lampe levelled the bout with a quick attack and in the dying seconds, she pushed her rival out of the mat to register an impressive 5-4 victory.
With Bengaluru leading the match 3-0, Pavlo Oliiynk faced India’s Satyavrat Kadian in the Men’s 97kg category. Oliiynk took the lead against the Indian in the first round with a take-down to go 2-0 up. Kadian mounted a recovery in the second round by clinching one point. However, Oliiynk held his nerve in the last seconds of the bout to guide Bengaluru towards an unassailable 4-0 lead.
UP Warriors’ captain Babita Kumari came to the mat next with her team in complete disarray. The wrestler took on Bengaluru’s Lalita Sehrawat in the women’s 53kg category. With the result of the match decided, both players went neck-to-neck in the bout as the scoreboard showed 2-2. Babita Kumari went into the lead before the break with a take-down. The second round also swung in favour of the UP Warriors' captain with the player racing to 8-2 lead. As the time ended, Babita registered an 8-2 victory to give UP their first bout of the match.
Five-time World championship medalist Yuliya Ratkevich took to the mat next to take on UP Warrior’s Ritu Malik in the women’s 58 kg category. The Azerbaijan wrestler registered the first victory of the league by fall as she took down UP’s Ritu Malik to give Bengaluru a 5-1 lead.
In the last bout of the day, Bengaluru Yodhas icon player Narsingh Yadav faced UP’s Purevjav Unurbat of Mongolia. The Indian registered the first point of the bout with an attack against the UP Warriors' wrestler. Narsingh Yadav completed a brilliant take-down in the second round to increase his lead 7-0. The Indian completed Bengaluru’s 6-1 rout of UP with a 7-1 win in his bout.
In the third match of PWL, Dilli Veer will host Haryana Hammers at the KD Jadhav stadium in New Delhi on Saturday. Â