Parveen Rana and World Championship silver medallist Vasilisa Marzaluik chalked out facile victories as Veer Marathas overpowered Delhi Sultans 4-2 to move closer to a semifinal berth in the Pro Wrestling League, at the Siri Fort Indoor Stadium, New Delhi on Sunday.
Vasilisa, made short work of Delhi Sultan’s Egyptian grappler Samar Hamza by pinning her down ( 6-0) to seal the tie in her side’s favoure.
Before that Commonwealth Championship silver medallist Parveen Rana set up the victory for the debutant Marathas by taking down Vinod Omprakash in the 74-kg category.
Rana got off to a flying start as flying start as he scored two points in the first round; he survived a late scare though, as Vinod, who replaced injury hit Sushil Kumar, almost tied him down, to finish with a comprehensive 4-0 victory to give his side a 3-2 lead.
In the fourth bout of the day, down 1-2 in the tie, Marathas’ Marwa Amri (57-kg) romped past the 2017 Commonwealth Championship silver medalist Sangeeta Phogat to level the tie.
Marwa pinned Sangeeta down for a comfortable 4-0 win in the first round itself.
Earlier, Veer Marathas won the toss and blocked World Champion Haji Aliev (65-kg) while the Sultans used the opportunity to put Ritu Malik out of action.
In the lung opener, the Sultans got off to a winning start as Sandeep Tomar registered his fourth consecutive win, pinning his rival Naveen Kumar.
Sandeep dominated his opponent from the word go and came into his elements in the second round when he rolled his opponent and overpowered him with his might.
Veer Marathas’ Ritu Phogat promptly restored parity, defeating African Championship gold medalist Maroi Meizen in a lop-sided affair.
Maroi tried to put up a stiff defence but Ritu brought out all the tricks up her sleeve and took an impregnable 14-1 lead at the break. Ritu continued to overshadow her opponent and extended her lead to 17-1 to win on technical superiority.
World Championship bronze medalist Aslan Alborov, however, maintained his unbeaten run in the league to help the Sultans regain the lead by winning the 92kg clash.
In a clash between titans, Alborov narrowly beat Georgi Keteov of Veer Marathas 3-1 to give the Sultans a slight edge. Both wrestlers began cautiously, waiting for the other to make the big move.
Alborov found an opening as the first period was drawing to a close, rolling his burly opponent to take a 3-0 lead. Keteov tried to fight back in the second period but just couldn’t find a way past Alborov’s defences. He managed to pick up a point but that was never going to be enough.