Mumbai high: Garuda beat Hammers to win Pro Wrestling League title

Mumbai beat Haryana 7-2 in the final. (Source: PWL)

Coach Mahavir Prasad was the main strategist for his team during the final against Haryana Hammers. He was informed that no weight categories will be blocked in the final. The Mumbai Garuda coach informed his team about the new format. He also told his wrestlers one more thing. “I have been good with my predictions right from the auctions. I told my team that if it was seven bouts, you guys will win 5-2 but now there are nine bouts and we will win 7-2,” Mahavir said.

His prediction proved to be right. Mumbai dominated Haryana in the final of the Pro Wrestling League to clinch the title with a 7-2 victory, remaining unbeaten throughout the tournament, and pocketing the prize money of Rs 3 crores. “This is an amazing team and all of our players rose to the occasion. Our coach told us that we will win 7-2 and we proved it. That is the level of the confidence we have,” Adeline Gray, the Mumbai captain, said.

In front of a packed KD Jadhav stadium, Gray led from the front. Trailing 2-1, Mumbai needed their captain to tie it for them. The three time world champion did exactly that by claiming a victory by technical superiority — a score she has made a habit over the past year—over Geetika Jhakar.

Earlier, Mumbai took a 1-0 lead through Amit Dhankar by technical fall over Vishal Rana in the men’s 65 kg category. Moments after his win, Amit pumped his fist , a celebration that was directed at Yogeshwar Dutt who was sitting in the Haryana corner. The two wrestlers almost came to blows as an upset Yogeshwar confronted Amit. “Yogi asked me why did you show the fist? It was just the heat of the moment,” Amit later explained.

For Haryana, it was 2015 world champion Oksana Herhel who opened the scoring by pinning Sakshi Malik at 1 minute and 15 seconds. Later, Livan Lopez Azcuy stormed to a 11-6 victory over Pardeep, sending his team into a 2-1 lead. Mumbai’s foreign stars didn’t disappoint either. Giorgi Sakandelidze and Odunayo Adekuoroye gave the lead to their team after beating Hitender and Tatyana Kit in the men’s 125 kg and women’s 53 kg respectively. This meant Mumbai needed only one more win to claim the title.

Leading 4-2, Mumbai hoped that their 97 kg Odikadze Elizbar would beat Olympic silver medallist Andriitesey Valerii. The former had beaten Elizbar in the league stages. But on Sunday, Elizbar made it count. Starting the bout on a defensive note, he slowly came into his own. After defending two attacks, Elizbar performed two takedowns and twice pushed Valerii out of the ring. In the end, Elizbar won 6-4 which gave Mumbai the title.

In the last two bouts, Ritu Phogat, trailing 4-2, scored the last two points by takedown against Nirmal Devi and Rahul Aware completed a comprehensive 6-3 victory over Nitin Rathee to complete the domination.

Sushil watches final

Just after the third bout of the evening, a huge roar went up at the arena. The wrestling fans had spotted a familiar face, that of Sushil Kumar. The fans had waited long for this moment. Having pulled out of the league just two days before it began, the London Olympics silver medallist gave his fans a pleasant surprise.