PWL-4: Vinesh guides Mumbai to 4-3 win over Haryana

Vinesh Phogat led Mumbai Maharathi to a convincing 4-3 win and cut short Haryana Hammers' winning streak in the Pro Wrestling League (PWL) Season 4, currently underway at the Gautam Buddha University Indoor Stadium here on Thursday.

The 24-year-old wrestler, who was nominated for the prestigious Laureaus Awards recently, got tough resistance from the Haryana Hammers wrestler Seema but the Asian Games gold medal winner clinched it 12-2 to win the tie with one bout remaining.

In the inconsequential 57kg men's bout, the world U23 championships silver medallist Ravi Kumar of Haryana rallied to beat the European U23 champion Ibragim Ilyasov of Mumbai 13-9. Ibragim was leading 9-5 at one stage.

Earlier, Harphool gave Mumbai an early lead beating countrymate Haryana Hammers' Rajneesh 5-2 in an evenly contested bout in the 65kg category.

European championships bronze medallist Tatyana Omelchenko restored parity for Haryana in the next bout beating Shilpi Yadav of Mumbai 16-0 in a completely one-sided encounter in the women's 62kg category.

Next it was world championships bronze medallist Ali Shabanov's turn to put the Hammers 2-1 ahead, edging past Mumbai Maharathi's Deepak Punia 4-3 in an edge-of-the-seat thriller in the 86kg category.

The European championships silver medalist Hungarian Zseneth Nemeth made it 2-2 for Mumbai Maharathi beating 2018 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Kiran 6-4 in the women's 76kg category.

Kiran took a 4-2 lead midway through the first round but Zseneth came back strongly to clinch the bout.

Russia's Baitseev Vladisiav put Mumbai Maharathi on the doorsteps of victory wining the 125kg category bout against Haryana's Ukrainian wrestler Aleksander Khotsianivski 6-2.

After the fifth bout, Mumbai was leading 3-2 before Vinesh sealed it for them.

--IANSA

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