PWL: Haryana hammer Delhi to go joint top

New Delhi, Jan 11 (IANS) Haryana Hammers defeated Delhi Sultans 5-2 to register their third consecutive victory and clinch the joint lead in the ongoing second edition of the Pro Wrestling League (PWL) at the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday.

Haryana, the runners-up in the inaugural edition, thus maintained their all-win record to notch up six points from three matches. They share the top spot with Punjab Royals, who have played four matches.

Jaipur Ninjas and Mumbai Maharathi are at the joint second spot with four points each.

Delhi continue to languish at the bottom along with UP Dangal. Both teams are yet to open their accounts after playing three matches each.

Haryana won the toss and decided to block the men's 74kg contest, thus putting Delhi's promising youngster Parveen Rana out of the tie. Rana was due to face a relatively lower rated opponent in Sumit Sehrawat.

Delhi blocked the women's 53kg category. The decision prevented reigning European champion and Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sofia Mattsson of Sweden from taking on Delhi's Sangeeta Phogat.

Abdusalam Gadisov gave Haryana a winning start by outclassing Delhi's Satyawart Kadian 9-0 in the men's 97kg category.

The former world champion from Russia opened up a 3-0 lead in the first round and held on to his advantage till the end.

Former European champion and two-time Olympic silver medallist Mariya Stadnik equalised for Delhi by outclassing Haryana's Indu Chaudhary by technical superiority in the women's 48kg section.

The Azerbaijan star was leading 16-0 in the first period when the referee decided to call off the contest.

Haryana regained the lead when Russian star Magomed Kurbanaliev defeated Delhi's David Tlashadze 6-2 in the men's 70kg division.

Magomed, the reigning world champion, executed a four-point move in the opening minute of the bout before the Delhi grappler pulled off a takedown to reduce the gap.

But the Russian bagged another two points early in the second round and comfortably held of David's repeated attempts to stage a comeback.

Alina Makhynia brought Delhi back into the contest with a convincing 2-1 win over Haryana's Kiran.

Alina took a point on either side of the break before Kiran managed to reduced teh gap in the final minute.

Haryana put their noses ahead once again as Rajneesh stunned 2013 World Championship bronze medallist Bajrang Punia 9-6 in the men's 65kg division.

Rajneesh, who maintained his unbeaten record in this year's PWL with three consecutive wins, took a 4-0 lead early in the first round.

Bajrang fought back with a successful counter-attack and a pushout as Rajneesh went into the break with a 4-3 lead.

The second round saw an absorbing contest with Bajrang fighting desperately for a comeback. He executed another successful counter-attack to reduce the gap to just two points at one stage. But Rajneesh displayed superior technique to emerge victorious.

Marwa Amri handed Haryana an unassailable 4-2 lead in spectacular fashion by defeating Delhi' Apoorva Tyagi by fall in the very first minute of the women's 58kg contest.

Sandeep Tomar rounded off an extremely satisfying evening for Haryana by overpowering Dehi's Erdenebat Bekhbayar 8-2 in the men's 57kg division.

Bekhbayar sufferred a cut above his right eye at around the 20-second mark but recovered to take a point with a pushout and go into the break with a 1-0 lead.

Sandeep staged a superb comeback by totally dominating the second period. He levelled the scores with pushout before executive a four-point move immediately after.

He kept on executing successful moves to complete a convincing win.