New Delhi , December 18 : Riding on fine performances by World Championships medallists Vladimir Khinchegashvil, Vasilisa Marzaliuk and India’s Praveen Rana in the deciding bout, Punjab Royals prevailed over Dilli Veer 4-3 in the Pro Wrestling League.
It went down to the wire with Punjab and Delhi tied at 3-3, before Praveen Rana helped the Royals have the last laugh. With this defeat, Dilli Veer slumped to their third consecutive loss in the competition.
Earlier, the first encounter of the day was a closely-fought contest between Dilli Veer’s Erdenebat Bekhbayar and Khinchegashvil, representing Punjab Royals. In a fast-paced, fascinating battle, Khinchegashvil eked out a narrow 4-3 win over Bekhbayar.
In the opening round, Bekhbayar gained the first two points before Khinchegashvil also earned two points to go into the break tied 2-2. After the break, Bekhbayar won a point when Khinchegashvil was cautioned, to lead 3-2. But with just a few seconds to go before the final whistle, Khinchegashvil managed to topple his rival to earn two important points to win the bout and give Punjab an early lead. In the women’s 69 kg, Nikki of Dilli Veer failed to match up to Punjab’s Vasilisa Marzaliuk, going down tamely 0-10 by a technical superiority verdict in just 2.43 minutes. Vasilisa simply outplayed Nikki to gain eight points on the trot, rolling her again and again on the mat. Then she earned two more points just before the end of the first round to extend Punjab’s lead to 2-0.
The Delhi team then managed to win the next bout with Navruzov Ikhtiyor defeating Rajneesh of Punjab 10-0 by technical superiority in the men’s 65 kg category. Though Rajneesh managed to come up with a good defence, Ikhtiyor used all his experience to beat the Indian grappler. After gaining four points in the opening round, Ikhtiyor won six more points in the second round to finish off the bout with two seconds remaining in the match to get over.
World Championships bronze medallist Yesilirmak Elif Jale, representing Dilli Veer, then took just 2.01 minutes to down Punjab’s captain and icon player Geeta Phogat 4-1 by fall in the women’s 58 kg category. With this bout, Dilli Veer equalled the score 2-2. But Jargalsaikhan Chuluubat of Punjab Royals go the better of Krishan of Dilli Veer in the men’s 125 kg division.
Dilli Veer captain Vinesh Phogat beat Yana Rattigan of Punjab Royals 15-6 in the women’s 48 kg category. In the last bout, Praveen Rana overcame Dinesh 6-2 to give Punjab Royals their second win of the tournament.
Courtesy : PTI