Internet Desk: Defending champions Mumbai Maharathi produced a dominant performance to overpower UP Dangal 5-2 in a Pro Wrestling League (PWL) contest at the KD Jadhav Stadium here on Saturday.
It was the first victory for Mumbai this season as they they had lost their first two ties.
They have now climbed to the second spot on the PWL table with two points from three ties — two points behind joint leaders Haryana Hammers and Jaipur Ninjas.
UP, on the other hand, suffered their second loss in as many ties.
The opening bout of the tie saw an upset of sorts with Mumbai’s Pritam staging a comeback win over former Asian champion Amit Dhankar of UP in the men’s 70 kilogram category.
The bout was tied 3-3, but Pritam was awarded the win by virtue of having scored last.
Amit took the lead when the referee invoked the passivity rule against Pritam.
The former Asian champion took two more points early in the second round and seemed to be coasting to an easy win.
But Pritam staged a superb comeback with a takedown right at the end which produced three points.
Mumbai skipper Erica Wiebe doubled the team’s lead with a 4-0 win over UP’s Belarussian star Maria Mamashuk in the women’s 75kg category.
Carolina Castillo Hidalgo then extended Mumbai’s lead with a 4-1 verdict over Elisa Yankova in the women’s 48kg category.
Andrey Kviatkovski reduced the gap for UP by defeating Mumbai’s promising youngster Vikas in a nailbiting bout in the men’s 65kg division.
Andrey produced a four-point move to take the lead in the first round before Vikas grabbed two points with a takedown.
Vikas bagged two more points in the second round as the bout finished with both wrestlers locked at 4-4. But Andrey was declared the winner as he had produced the bigger scoring move.
But Sarita ensured that Mumbai won the tie with a 9-1 victory over Manisha in the women’s 58kg category.
Rio Olympics bronze medallist Jabrayil Hasanov of Azerbaijan extended Mumbai’s lead to 5-1 by defeating UP’s Tariel Gaprindashvili 3-1.
Former Asian champion and 2013 World Championships silver medallist Amit Dahiya provided some consolation for UP fans towards the end by clinching a 3-2 win over Mumbai’s Rahul Aware in a hard fought bout in the men’s 57kg division.
It was a bitterly fought, tactical bout with both wrestlers matching each other move for move.
Aware took a 1-0 lead in the first round when the passivity rule was invoked against Amit.
But Amit fought back with a passivity point of his own in the second round before clinching the issue with a two-point move.
With inputs from IANS.