Noida, Jan 30 (.) Table toppers and title favourites Haryana Thunders beat Punjab Royals 5-4 in the first semi-finals of the Pro-Wrestling League being played at the Noida Indoor Stadium here.
Fourth-placed Punjab Royals had finished the group stage with 6 points and faced Haryana Thunders who had 8 points.
Punjab took an early lead with Dinesh Dhankhar beating Anirudh Gulia 4-2 in the men’s 125 kg category.
Punjab extended the lead as Priya Malik beat Kajal Dhouchak in the women’s 76 kg category.
Haryana’s Azeri athlete Ashraf Ashirov beat Sandeep Mann in the men’s 5-1 in the 86 kg category to bring the favourites back into the match.
Paris Olympics silver medalist Ukrainian wrestler Iryna Koliadenko (Haryana) beat Canada’s Ana Godinez in the women’s 62 kg category.
Ana, a three-time gold medalist at the Pan American Wrestling Championships, after trailing 0-1 after the first round made a comeback in the second round, but Iryna pinned her at the end of the round to take the win. This brought the teams level at 3-3.
Women’s 57 kgs Neha Sangwan(Haryana) beat Rajnita Jangra 9-2 to give Haryana a 4-3 lead.
Haryana’s Mongolian wrestler Tumur Tulga beat Anuj Kumar 2-1 in the 65 kg category in a closely fought match to extend the lead.
Going into the final bout, Haryana was leading 5-3, but they chose to concede the last bout.
Hence the contest ended 5-4 in Haryana’s favour, and they enter the finals to be played on Sunday.
Haryana captain Yui Susaki was to face Meenakshi in the women’s 53 kg match on Saturday, which was forfeited.
On Saturday, second-placed Delhi Dangal Warriors will play third-placed Maharashtra Kesari in the second semi-final.
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