PWL: Haryana Hammers beat Jaipur Ninjas to seal semis spot

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New Delhi: Haryana Hammers continued their winning streak, overpowering Jaipur Ninjas 5-2 to enter the semifinals of the Pro Wrestling League (PWL) at the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium here on Saturday.

Haryana are now at the top of the PWL table with eight points having won all the four ties they have played so far.

Jaipur, who had already qualified for the last four stage, completed their full quota of five matches in the league stage with six points.

Punjab Royals and Mumbai Maharathi, who have played four and five ties respectively, are also in the semi-finals with with six points each.

Jaipur`s stand-in captain Jenny Fransson won the toss and blocked the men`s 65 kilogram category. Haryana meanwhile, brought down the axe on the women`s 48kg division.

The first four bouts of the tie were keenly contested with Jaipur drawing repeatedly. But last year`s runners-up Haryana Hammers clinched the last two bouts to clinch victory.

Haryana took the early lead when reigning world champion Magomed Kurbanaliev trounced Jaipur`s Vinod Kumar 12-0 in a rather one-sided contest in the men`s 70kg bout.

Vinod Kumar, who took silver at last year`s Asian Championships, never looked even close to taking a point against his Russian opponent throught the bout.

The world champion enjoyed the brighter start, pulling off a takedown less than 30 seconds into the bout. That lead had swelled to 7-0 before the end of the first round.

Magomed dominated the second period as well to complete a rather comfortable win.

Jenny restored parity for Jaipur with a 3-0 win over Haryana`s in the women`s 75kg category.

The Rio Olympics bronze medallist took a 3-0 lead in the opening round before easing off a bit after the break.

Former world champion Abdusalam Gadisov handed the lead back to Haryana, outclassing Jaipur`s Rubaljit Singh Rangi by technical superiority in the men`s 97kg division. The Russian star had a massive 18-2 lead when the contest was called off.

Gadisov established his domination in the opening seconds, surprising Rangi with a quick attack on the legs and almost pulled off the pin.

The Russian increased his lead to 7-0 right on the stroke of the second minute before Rangi did well to execute a leg hold and grab two points.

In the second round, Gadisov executed a takedown followed by a fitley move on the legs that seemed to aggravate an existing injury on Rangi`s heavily strapped right knee.

Despite requiring medical attention, the Indian wrestler decided to fight on even as the 2016 World Cup silver medallist killed off the contest with another takedown.

Jaipur equalised once again as Georgian star Jakob Makarashvili edged out Haryana`s Sumit Sehrawat 3-0 in the men`s 74kg category.

Two-time European champion and Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sofia Mattsson of Sweden defeated Jaipur`s Betzabeth Arguello 11-2 in the women`s 53kg category as Haryana led for the third time in the tie.

Sandeep Tomar handed the tie to Haryana when he edged out Utkarsh Kale 5-3 in a pulsating contest in the men`s 57kg category.

Trailing 2-0 early in the second round, Kale fought back to level the scores before Tomar regained the lead at 3-2.

Kale equalised once again but with barely 30 seconds left on the clock, Tomar pulled off another takedown to take a couple of points.

Rio Olympics bronze medallist Marwa Amri finished things off in style for Haryana, defeating Jaipur`s Pooja Dhanda by fall.