Haryana overpower Mumbai in PWL

Haryana Hammers enjoyed an excellent start to their campaign with a comprehensive 5-2 victory over defending champions Mumbai Maharathis in the inaugural match of the second edition of the Pro Wrestling League (PWL) here on Monday.

Rajneesh (65kg), Abdusalam Gadisov (97kg), Jabrayil Hasanov (74kg) Sofia Mattsson (women’s 53kg) and Marwa Amri (women’s 58kg) won their matches for Haryana while skipper Erica Wieb (women’s 75kg) and promising youngster Rahul Aware (57kg) wrested some consolation for Mumbai. It was a contest between the finalists of the inaugural season and Haryana avenged to some extent the defeat in the title clash.

The most high profile contest of the day was between former world champion Gadisov and Mumbai’s former European champion Pavlo Oliinyk in the 97kg division.

Gadisov managed to establish his domination early on and opened up a 2-0 lead in the first period. The Russian maintained his domination in the second round as well. He produced a two-point move early in the second period to increase his lead. Pavlo tried to show some urgency towards the end but could not prevent Gadisov from taking a 6-0 win.

Earlier, Haryana’s Rajneesh overpowered Vikas of Mumbai 7-2 in the opening bout of the contest. Reigning Olympic champion Erica Wieb brought Mumbai back to level terms with an easy 16-0 verdict over Haryana’s Kiran. Gadisov then wrested the lead back for Haryana before Sofia Mattsson and Marwa Amri also won their respective bouts to give their team an insurmountable 4-1 lead.

Rahul Aware gave Mumbai fans something to cheer about right at the end with an exciting win over Sandeep Tomar in the 57kg category.