Defending champions Punjab Royals stormed into the finals of the Pro Wrestling League, beating Veer Marathas in a semi-final clash on Wednesday.
Their star players took a commanding 4-0 lead against Veer Marathas before conceding the first point in the nine-bout tie. Pooja Dhanda then lived up to her new-found reputation of giant killer to down World Championship silver medalist Marwa Amri to seal their place in the final.
In the first clash, Punjab Royals’ Ilyas Bekbulatov got his side off to a flying start, overshadowing the Marathas’ Amit Dhankar 10-4 in the men’s 65kg clash.
In the women’s 76kg clash, France’s Koumba Larroque gave the Royals a 2-0 advantage as she upset World Championship silver medalist Vasilisa Marzaliuk after an initial scare. Vasilisa, used her technical superiority to race away to a narrow 2-1 lead. The young Frenchwoman, however, bounced back after the initial hiccups to overthrow the 31-year-old from Belarus to win 4-3.
In the battle of heavyweights (125kg), 2017 World Champion Geno Petriashvili put the Royals’ in further control with his side’s third consecutive win. He eked out a narrow 4-1 victory over Marathas’ Levan Berianidze.
Down 0-4 in the tie, Georgi Ketoev breathed some life back into the Marathas as he towered over the young 2016 Cadet World Championship medalist Deepak Punia 9-2.