PWL: Rana guides Marathas to maiden win

New Delhi, Jan 17 : Commonwealth Championship silver medallist Parveen Rana clinched a hard-fought victory to help Veer Marathas defeat Mumbai Maharathi in a Pro Wrestling League (PWL) contest here on Wednesday.

In the last bout of the tie, with the scores locked at 3-3, Rana overcame Praveen Dahiya of Mumbai Maharathi 6-4 in the men's 74 kilogram category to give the PWL debutants their first victory in the league.

Parveen looked in great touch and warded off all attempts by his opponent to register his first win in this year's edition.

In the two bouts before his, World Championship bronze medallist Levan Berianidze of Armenia beat Satender Malik 5-0 in the men's 125kg division to make it 3-2 in favour of the Marathas.

But World Championship silver medallist Odunayo Adekouroye of Nigeria promptly pulled off a stunning 5-1 victory over Rio Olympics bronze medallist Marwa Amri in the women's 53kg bout to level the scores and bring Mumbai back into the contest.

Earlier in the day, Mumbai won the toss and decided to keep Shravan out of the equation, while the Marathas used their card to block Seema Bisla.

Olympic champion Soslan Ramonov of Russia got the Maharathis off to a great start as he annihilated India's Amit Dhankar 16-0 through technical superiority in the men's 65kg section.

Soslan was at his brutal best and did not even break a sweat as he sealed the bout within a couple of minutes in the opening period.

In the second bout of the day, skipper Vasilisa Marzaliuk of Belarus restored parity for Marathas after she staved off a stiff challenge from France's Cynthia Vescan of France 2-1 in the women's 76kg event. 

It was an evenly poised battle and the result could have gone either way, but Vasilisa hung on by the skin of her teeth to come out victorious.

World Championship bronze medallist Georgi Keteov of Armenia made it 2-1 in favour of the Marathas after he picked up a convincing 5-0 victory over India's Satyawart Kadian in the men's 97kg category.

It was a pulsating contest with none of the wrestlers managing to score a point in the opening period. However, after the breather Georgi used all his experience and broke through the defence of his opponent to end on a winning note.

Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik registered a dominating victory over compatriot Ritu Malik Dalal in the women's 58kg to help Mumbai stay afloat in the tie.