Haryana hammers Bengaluru in PWL

Olympic Games bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt led Haryana Hammers to a 4-3 win over Bengaluru Yodhas 4-3 on their home turf in the inaugural Pro Wrestling League here today.
The highlight of the contest on the first day of the Haryana leg was the much-awaited 'Guru-Chela' contest between Yogeshwar and Bajrang Punia in 65kg. The Guru (Yogeshwar) emerged as the winner beating Bajrang 3-2 as the spectators got an opportunity to witness the event at the 5-star hotel of Hyatt Regency.
In the first bout of the contest, Nitin of Haryana beat Sandeep Tomar of Benagluru 9-8 in 57kg before Tatyana Kit of the home team scored a comprehensive 6-0 win over Lalita Sherawat in women's 53kg.

Pavlo Oliynik brought Bengaluru back with a 10-0 win over Yuri Maier in a one-sided 97kg bout but Geetika Jakhar ensured Haryana's lead with a technical point victory over Navjot Kaur after both the wrestlers were tied 3-3 in women's 69kg bout.
It was then left to Yogeshwar to take the contest out of Bengaluru's reach with a 3-2 win over Bajrang.
Bengaluru won the last two bouts of the contest with Yulia Ratkevich beating Oksana Herhel (11-0) in 58kg and Narsingh Yadav emerging victorious against Livan Lopez Azcuy (8-5) in 74kg but that was too late in the day.

Speaking about his victory, Yogeshwar said, "I am happy that I won. However, it was not easy for me to fight with Bajrang whom I treat like my son. We both in fact tried giving our 100 per cent in the fight but feel that we could not. Fighting with our close ones is not at all easy."

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An elated Sandeep Tomar said his strategy of not to attack his opponent Vladimir paid rich dividends.
"I am feeling very happy. I have defeated an Olympic champion for the first time and it feels really nice," said Sandeep after the match.

"Vladimir was counter attacking more and my strategy was not to attack too much. Whatever I thought I could execute it properly and I am very happy about that. I was totally ready for the bout," he added.
Sofia, who was stunned by Odunayo, conceded that she was not 100 per cent prepared.
"I won the bronze at the Rio Games as I was preparing for it for 1000 days. At the Olympics you prepare 110 per cent but after Rio, a lot of things happen and I was probably just 99 per cent prepared for this tournament. So when you face a wrestler like Odunayo, who is very very good, that one per cent matters," said Sofia.

"Odunayo has a style of playing and I got stuck in her style of playing. I could not come out of that. She is one wrestler who enjoys the crowd here in India and she did very well today," Sofia further added.