Haryana breaks the bank to sign Oksana Herhel and Yogeshwar Dutt
The Pro Wrestling League auction is currently underway in Delhi with over 50 wrestlers from around the globe going under the hammer. As of now, Haryana are the biggest spenders, having snapped up Ukranian wrestler Oksana Herhel and Olympic medalist Yogeshwar Dutt for a combined total of Rs.81 lakh.
Six franchises will be competing in the inaugural season of the Pro Wrestling League, which starts on December 10. Each team will consist of nine wrestlers – five males and four females. The teams will have to maintain a combination of five Indians and four foreigners during the tournament, which will have a league phase, followed by the semi-finals and the final. The final is scheduled for December 27.
Each team had a budget cap of Rs.2 crore for this auction. The auction opened with the six 'Icon' players going under the hammer and Sushil Kumar Singh was the first name up for grabs. While Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Punjabtightly competed for the 2012 Olympic silver medalist, it was UP that went the distance and picked him up for Rs.38.20 lakh.
Sushil's compatriot Yogeshwar Dutt also drew a lot of interest and ended up fetching the most by an Indian wrestler – Rs.39.70 lakh. Geeta Phogot was the first women wrestler to come up at the auction and she was sold to Punjab at the base price of Rs.33 lakh.
USA wrestler Adeline Gray, who won a gold at the 2015 World Wrestling Championship, saw a lot of action between Delhi and Mumbai, but the 24-year-old was eventually snapped up by the latter for Rs.37 lakh.
Haryana splashed their cash once again later in auction, this time to buy Ukrainian wrestler Oksana Herhel, who won gold in women's 60 kilogram freestyle event at the 2015 World Wrestling Championship, for Rs.41.30 lakh.
That turned out to be costliest buy of the auction, closely followed by the Rs.40.20 lakh Punjab paid for Belarusian wrestler Vasilisa Marzaliuk, who won gold at the 2015 European Games.
Among the Indian wrestlers, 25-year-old Babita Kumari, who won gold in the 2014 Commonwealth Games, was sold to Uttar Pradesh for Rs.34.10 lakh, while highly rated youngster Amit Dahiya was bought for Rs.30.10 lakh as Haryana continued their spending spree.
