Living up to his reputation, Asian Games gold medallist Bajrang Punia pulled off the deciding bout against Delhi Sultans’ Andrey Kviatkovski to guide defending champion Punjab Royals to its first win of the ongoing Pro Wrestling League (PWL) season, here on Sunday.
In a battle between the two world championships participants, Bajrang outclassed Kviatkovski in the 65kg encounter.
In the sixth bout, Rio Olympics bronze medallist Delhi’s Sakshi Malik didn’t break much sweat while defeating 2018 national championships silver medallist Punjab’s Anita 11-0 and push the tie to the decider. This was a much improved performance by Sakshi than the one she had against Navjot Kaur of UP Dangal in the last match.
Earlier, the 2017-18 World Military Championships gold medallist Russian Khetik Tsabalov of Delhi Sultans won the first bout of the evening against the Asian Championships bronze medallist Vinod Kumar 14-0.
Punjab Royals’ 2018 European Championships bronze medallist Cynthia Vescan withstood a tough challenge from the 2018 European U23 Championships gold medallist Anastasia Shustova to win the bout 2-1 and restore parity for the defending champion.
In the men’s 86kg category, the 2016 European Championship bronze medallist Dato Magarisvili of the Punjab Royals dismissed last year’s national champion Praveen, scoring an impressive 12-0 win on technical superiority in under two minutes.
National champion Pinki defeated national runner-up Punjab Royals Anju in the 53kg bout. Pinki was coming to this bout riding on the wave of an upset win over world champion Vanesa Kaladzinskaya in the previous round.
But Anju gave Pinki a good run for her money before succumbing 4-9. Both teams were two wins apiece at this stage.
The 2018 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Korey Jarvis of the Punjab Royals won the 125kg bout against Satender Malik 7-2 despite the Indian holding the Canadian at bay for most part of the bout.
Comments
SHARE