Preview: Pro Wrestling League kicks off today
The Pro Wrestling League is slated to kick off on Thursday with the Mumbai Garuda team taking on Punjab Royals in the opening match at the KD Jadhav Wrestling Stadium(IGI Indoor Stadium), Delhi. The six-franchise based tournament will have teams taking on each other in different legs with the semi-finals and final scheduled to be held at Delhi.
On similar lines of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Pro Wrestling League (PWL) will feature top stars of Indian wrestling, including Olympic medallists Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt & Commonwealth Games gold medallist Geeta Phogat going shoulder to shoulder with the world’s best. The 17-day tournament will feature a total of 54 wrestlers from twelve countries including India competing for the inaugural PWL title.
Format
Each PWL team will have nine players – five Indians and four foreign – of which there will be five men and four women. Each team will play a total of five ties in the league stages with each city playing host to different legs of the league stages.
Each tie will be contested on the best of seven bouts format. In the league phase, all seven bouts will be contested even if a team wins the game by winning the first four bouts. The four best teams of the league stage will qualify for the semi-finals, which is scheduled to be held in New Delhi on December 25 and 26. The national capital will also play host to the grand finale on December 27. The season will see a total of 18 ties – 15 in the league phase, and three knock-out matches.
Teams
The PWL will feature six teams representing six cities. Mangalayatan University Delhi Veer (Delhi), CDR Punjab Royals (Punjab), Haryana Hammers (Haryana), UP Warriors (Uttar Pradesh), Revanta's Mumbai Garude (Mumbai) and Bengaluru Yodhas (Bengaluru) are the six teams in the inaugural edition.
Venues
The KD Jadhav Wrestling Stadium (IGI Indoor Stadium), Delhi will play host to the opening leg of the league from December 10 to 12. The league then will move to Punjab, where Guru Nanak stadium in Ludhiana will host ties from December 13 to 15. Hyatt Regency, Gurugaon will be the host for the third leg of PWL from December 16 to 18.
The UP leg of the league will be played in GBU indoor stadium in Noida on December 19 and 20. The league then goes back to Delhi on December 21 and 22 before going down to Bengaluru on December 23 and 24 for the last leg of the league phase. The semi-finals and the finals will be held at New Delhi on December 25, 26 and 27 respectively. The ties are scheduled to start at 7pm and the ties will be broadcast by Multi Screen Media (MSM), with Sony Six giving the English feed and Sony Max and Sony Pal broadcasting it in Hindi.
Team to Watch
UP Warriros led by double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar will be the team to beat this season. Apart from Sushil, the team also have Indian stars like Satyavrat Kadian and Babita Kumari. The international contingent of UP Warriors is also strong with 2010 World champion Kogut Oleksandra and 2014 World Cup semi-finalist Sergey Ratushniy.
Full Squads
Dilli Veer: Navruzov Ikhtiyor (65kg, M, UZB), Petriashvili Geno (125kg,M, GEO), Sofia Mattson (53kg, F, SWE), Yesilirmak Elif Jale (58kg, F, TUR), Vinesh Phogat (48kg, F, IND), Nikki (69kg, F, IND), Ravi Kumar (57kg, M, IND), Dinesh Kumar (74kg, M, IND), Gurpal Singh (97kg, M, IND)
UP Warriors: Sushil Kumar (74kg, M, IND), Babita Kumari (53kg, F, IND), Satyavrat Kadian (97kg, M, IND), Sergey Ratushniy (57kg, M, UKR), Ganzorig Mandakhnran (65kg,M, MNG), Kogut Oleksandra (48kg, F, UKR), Alina Stadinik Makhinia (69kg, F, UKR), Joginder Kumar (125kg, M, IND), Ritu Malik (58kg, F, IND)
Bengaluru Yodhas: Narsingh Yadav (74kg, M, IND), Sandeep Tomar (57kg, M, IND), Bajrang Punia (65kg, M, IND), Pavlova O (97kg, M, UKR), Modzmanashvili D (125kg, M, GEO), Alyssa Lampe (48kg, F, USA), Lalita S (53kg, F, IND), Navjot Kaur (69kg, F, IND), Malin Mattson (58, F, SWE)
Punjab Royals: Geeta Phogat (58kg, F, IND), Vladimir Khinchegashvili (57kg, M, GEO), Rajneesh (65kg, M, IND), Parveen Rana (74kg, M, IND), Mausam K (97kg, M, IND) ,Jargal C (125kg, M, MNG), Fredrika P (48kg, F, SWE), Vasilisa Marzaliuk (69kg, F, BLR), Priyanka Phogat (53kg, F, IND)
Haryana Hammers: Yogeshwar Dutt (65kg, M, IND), Amit Dahiya (57kg, M, IND), Livan Lopez Azcuy (74kg, M, CUB), Yuri Maier (97kg, M, ARG), Hitender (125kg, M, IND), Nirmal Devi (48kg, F, IND), Tatyana K (53kg, F, UKR), Oksana Herhel (58kg, F, UKR) , Geetika Jakhar (69kg, F, IND)
Mumbai Garuda: Adeline Gray (69kg, F, USA), Rahul Aware (57kg, M, IND) , Amit Dhankar (65kg, M, IND), Pardeep (74kg, M, IND), Odikadze E (97kg, M, GEO), Levan B (125kg, M, GEO), Ritu Phogat (48kg, F, IND), Odunayo (53kg, F, NGA), Sakshi Malik (58kg, F, IND)