Mumbai Garuda thrash UP Warriors 5-2

Adeline Gray-led Mumbai Garuda finished as many as four of their bouts on technical superiority to post a comfortable 5-2 victory over Uttar Pradesh Warriors in the inaugural edition of the Pro Wrestling League here today.
After the opening bout was won by World Championship silver medallist Purevjav Unurbat as expected, UP Warriors could pull just one more back, going down tamely in the end.
Even UP's captain Babita was stunned by Nigerian girl Odunayo Adekuoroye.
The opening bout was a one-sided contest as Unurbat wrapped it up in just one minute and 45 seconds after completely overpowering Pradeep of Mumbai Garuda to post a comprehensive 12-1 victory in the Men's 74kg category to give UP Warriors an early 1-0 lead.

Sakshi Malik of Mumbai then managed to eke out a narrow 3-2 win
over UP's Sarita in Women's 58kg to equal the scores at 1-1.

It was a neck-and-neck battle in the first round, where Sakshi managed to win just a point over her UP rival to take a slender 1-0 at the break.
Second round was also a closely-fought affair but Sakshi once again took an upper hand by bagging two points before Sarita pulled two back to reduce the margin.
Mumbai gained the lead through Rahul Aware as he thrashed compatriot Jaideep Kumar of UP 11-0 in just 3:46 minutes in Men's 57kg, but not before suffering an injury with blood coming out from his right temple and a cut on the left cheek bone.

After the first round, Aware was leading 9-0, having put his opponent on the mat. And then he gained two more points in the next round to wrap it up quickly with his injuries hurting him badly.
The onus was then on captain Babita to put UP back on track but Odunayo Adekuoroye of Mumbai simply overpowered her 10-0 in 3:34 minutes in Women's 53kg.
The Nigerian girl proved too strong for Babita, gaining four points by the end of opening round to lead 4-0. Odunayo then followed it up with six more points in the next round to topple

In Men's 97kg, Mumbai's Odikadze Elizbar outplayed
Stayavrat Kadian of UP 12-0 in 5:47 minutes to hand Mumbai an unassailable 4-1 lead.
Mumbai's icon player and captain Adeline Gray then easily
overcame Alina Stadinik Makhinia 10-0 by technical superiority ain one minute and 46 seconds.
Gray, who is the World Championship gold in 2012, 2014, 2015, lived up her reputation as she hardly had to break a sweat in the Women's 69kg.
(REOPENS SPD 22)
After yesterday's disappointment against Odunayo Folasade Adekuoroye of Nigeria, Sofia Mattsson came back strongly to thrash Betzabeth Arguello in the first half itself.
"After last night's loss, I was very careful not to get stuck in the opponent's style of wrestling and instead, from the very beginning, I reminded myself that I was going to do it in my style today. That is why I played my way today from the very start of the bout," said the Olympic medallist from Sweden.

Both Sandeep and Rajneesh insisted that it was their day against Jaipur Ninjas and they did well to prevail over their respective rivals in closely fought ties.
"I was confident after beating an Olympic medallist yesterday but was guarded against complacency as I knew that Utkarsh Kale was a strong wrestler and was prepared to give my 100 per cent. It was a very close match but I am used to playing such close games against him. I am have won," said Sandeep.
Rajneesh said he had fought about 12-14 bouts against Rahul Mann earlier.
"I have fought 12-13 bouts with him. Sometimes he is better, sometime me. Today I was in better form than him so I could defeat him," he said.

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Meanwhile, Baba Ramdev will challenge 2008 Olympic silver medallist Andrey Stadnik for a friendly wrestling bout ahead of second semifinal match between Mumbai Maharathi and NCR Punjab Royals.
"I have fought bouts with national level wrestlers. But playing against an internationally renowned player will be more exciting. You will witness the real power of Yoga in this match," said Baba Ramdev.
Andrey had defeated Indian star wrestler Sushil Kumar in the Beijing Olympic. He had reached the finals, giving Sushil an opportunity to play in repechage and win a bronze medal.