It was expected to be a grudge bout and it lived up to the billing with Sandeep Tomar and Rahul Aware going all out to prove their supremacy in the 57kg category. It was the Mumbai wrestler who came out trumps even as Haryana won the war, beginning its campaign in the second season of the Pro Wrestling League with a 4-3 win, here on Monday.
Tomar, who was part of the Indian squad at the Rio Olympics, went 3-0 ahead at the end of Round One even as Aware kept his defences up, content to size up his opponent at the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium.
He came back to turn the tables after the break, using his own version of fitle — popularised by Yogeshwar Dutt — to twist, turn and roll over Tomar repeatedly with disdain, picking up points at will to race to a 9-3 lead. It soon became 14-3 before Tomar managed to earn a couple of consolation points in the last few seconds by pushing Aware out of the circle. The bout, though, was over long before.
The victory would have given Aware satisfaction, after having repeatedly claimed bias by the Wrestling Federation of India for national representation, but it did not help Mumbai much, having already lost four of the seven bouts to Haryana by then.
Former World and European champion Sofia Mattsson (Sweden) overwhelmed Lalita Sehrawat 6-2 by fall to wrap up the 53kg bout in just two and a half minutes in the first round, the quickest bout of the day.
Team captain and 2014 world champion Abdusalam Gadisov (Russia) managed to down Pavlo Oliynyk (Ukraine) 6-0 in the 97kg. Tunisia’s Mawra Amri lost her contact lenses midway through her bout against Sarita in the 58kg but still managed to overpower her opponent 5-0 to extend Haryana’s lead.
Mumbai captain and Rio Olympic gold medallist Erica Wiebe was expected to have it easy against Kiran in the 75kg and though the Canadian took a minute to size up her opponent, thereafter it was a one-way street. Erica, who led 6-0 at the end of Round One, sealed the deal with a 16-0 scoreline.
In the 74kg, Mumbai’s Azerbaijanian wrestler Jabrayil Hasanov led Sumit Sehrawat 3-0 at the end of Round One but then perhaps decided to end the bout early, racing to 9-0 20 seconds after resumption and finally knocking out Sehrawat by technical superiority 15-0 in three minutes 46 seconds. Haryana’s Rajneesh beat Vikas 7-2 in the 65kg.
