NEW DELHI: Haryana Hammers were named champions of Season 4 of the Pro Wrestling League (PWL) after they defeated neighbours and arch-rivals Punjab Royals in the final, 6-3 on Thursday.
The Hammers have been the most consistent team in the competition’s history. However, they had lost in the finals of all the three seasons previously.
On this occasion though, they took the attack to the opposition early by winning the first five bouts convincingly. The performance was so dominant that ace wrestler Bajrang Punia’s crushing 11-0 win came too late in the day and couldn’t save Punjab from defeat.
It was Aleksander Khotsianivski of Ukraine who kickstarted Haryana’s march to victory by winning the 125kg super heavyweight bout against Canadian Korey Jarvis 3-0.
Ali Shabanov won the men’s 86kg bout 4-3 to break Dato Marsagishvili’s unbeaten run and give the Hammers a 2-0 lead. T
he 2018 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Kiran added to Punjab’s misery by defeating the 2018 European Championships bronze medallist Cynthia Vescan of France 3-1 in the women’s 76kg category.
Followed by which, the 2018 World U-23 Championships silver medallist Ravi Kumar put Haryana 4-0 ahead in the tie after his comprehensive 8-0 win over Nitin Rathi.
The world junior champion Anastasia Nichita won it for Haryana Hammers after she came back from 2-4 deficit to beat the 2018 European Championships runner-up Mimi Hristova with a pin fall to clinch the bout and the tie.
