European champion Ilyas Bekbulatov and Pooja Dhanda overwhelmed their rivals as holders Punjab Royals thrashed Veer Marathas 6-3 to storm into the finals of the Pro Wrestling League at the Siri Fort Indoor Stadium New Delhi on Wednesday.

Putting up a dominating show, Punjab grapplers took a 4-0 lead against Veer Marathas before conceding the first point in the nine-bout tie.

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Pooja Dhanda then lived up to her new-found reputation of giant killer to down World Championship silver medalist Marwa Amri to take her side into the title round.

Pooja began on the wrong foot, losing two points to Marwa in the first period. She, however, bounced back smartly in the next period to turn the contest around. She did one better by pinning the Tunisian to seal the tie.

In the first clash Ilyas Bekbulatov got his side off to a flying start, overshadowing the Marathas’ Amit Dhankar 10-4 in the men’s 65-kg clash.

Ilyas took Dhankar down twice and led 4-0 at the break. In the second round, he overpowered the Indian with his might and took six points in quick succession to take an unassailable lead 10-0 lead.

The European Champion relaxed a bit, allowing Amit to take 4 consolation points.

In the women’s 76-kg 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 a battle of the heavyweights (125-kg), 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 Armenia’s Levan Berianidze.

Levan’s extra cautious approach gave Geno a 2-0 lead due to his passivity. The Armenian, then displayed urgency to clinch his first point but that wasn’t enough to ward off Geno.

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.