Mumbai beat Jaipur 4-3 in PWL

Mumbai Maharathi emerged victorious over Jaipur Ninjas 4-3 in the Patanjali Powervita Pro Wrestling League (PWL) at the K.D. Jadhav Indoor Stadium here on Monday.

The first bout of the evening was a closely contested fight between Mumbai's Jabrayil Hasanov and Jaipur's Jakob Makarashvili in the 74 kg. Olympic 2016 bronze medalist Hasanov prevailed in the bout by a 3-1 margin.

In the second bout, Jaipur's Ritu Phogat exhibited two clear takedowns to beat Mumbai's Carolina Castillo Hidalgo 4-1 to make it 1-1.

The third bout of the match witnessed a nail-biting finish between Indian grapplers Rahul Mann of Jaipur and Mumbai's Vikas Kumar, who won 6-6 by virtue of last points win even.

The 53 kg women's category saw a bout played between Jaipur's Betzabeth Arguello and Mumbai's 2014 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Lalita Sehrawat. Both wrestlers asked each other some tough questions even as Lalita went into the second round with a 2-1 lead. The second round was fruitful for Betzabeth though, as she managed to take down Lalita in the final few moments of the bout, winning by a 5-2 margin to make it 2-2.

Mumbai's Rahul Aware prevailed over Jaipur's Utkarsh Kale 9-6 in the 57 kg men's category.

Olympic 2016 gold medallist Erica Wiebe made it 4-2 for Mumbai when she displayed tremendous character to play with an injury and execute a decisive takedown that helped her beat Jenny Fransson. Although the scoreline read Jaipur 3, Mumbai 2, Erica was declared the winner by virtue of Win By Fall.

Elizbar Odikadze salvaged some pride for Jaipur as he defeated Pavlo Oliynik from Mumbai 3-2 in the 97 kg men's heavyweight bout. Mumbai Maharathi, however, won the tie 4-3 and finished third in the points table.

Mumbai captain Erica said: "I am very happy with the way the team has performed. As for my fight, I think I know how to find a way to win. I love challenges. I do have an injury but as soon as I get on the mat and hear the whistle blow... I am only focusing on my fight."

--IANS

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