Ludhiana : Epp Mae held on to a late onslaught by 2017 world championships silver medalist Zseneth Nemeth to score a heart-stopping 5-3 win in the 76kg category and give UP Dangal their first win this season in the Pro Wrestling League (PWL) Season 4 currently underway at the Municipal Corporation Indoor Stadium in Ludhiana on Monday. UP Dangal defeated Mumbai Maharathi 4-3 thereby massively denting the Vinesh Phogat-led team’s chances of making it to the semis.

Asian championships silver medallist Georgi Sakandelidze put UP Dangal 3-2 ahead beating European champion Baitseev Vladislav of Mumbai 2-1 in the 125kg superheavyweight bout. After that it was left to Mae to consolidate the lead and she did it in style defeating the more experienced Zseneth in a closely fought encounter. National champion Harphool won the last bout of the day defeating Pankaj Rana 15-6 in an intensely fought men’s 65kg category bout reducing UP’s victory margin to 4-3.

Earlier, the current national championships gold medallist JItender gave UP Dangal a head start beating Mumbai Maharathi’s junior national champion Sachin Rathi 14-0 in an intense 74kg bout completely dominated by the senior wrestler.

The 2017 Asian Championships silver medallist UP Dangal’s Sarita caused a major upset beating Mumbai Maharathi’s 2018 Pan American Championships bronze medallist from Venezuela Betzabeth Angelica 6-1 in the women’s 57kg category. It was a victory of Sarita’s grit and determination as she kept the aggressive Betzabeth at bay to put UP Dangal 2-0 ahead in the tie.

Deepak Punia brought Mumbai Maharathi back into the contest by upsetting the European U23 silver medallist from Georgia Irakli Misituri of UP Dangal 3-2 in an intense contest to make it 1-2 after three bouts. The 2018 Junior World Championships silver medallist Punia showed excellent skills to get the better of Irakli in a low-scoring match where the UP wrestler was leading 1-0 at the break.

Mumbai Maharathi’s best bet Asian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Vinesh Phogat had to withstand a tremendous challenge from 2017 world champions Vanesa Kaladzinskaya to finally prevail 5-3 in the women’s 53kg category. This win helped Mumbai tie the over all score at 2-2 after four bouts. But it wasn’t just Mumbai’s day today as UP came back to score a memorable win.

RESULTS

74kgM: Sachin Rathi (Mumbai Maharathi) lost to Jitender (UP Dangal)

57kgF: Betzabeth Angelica (Mumbai Maharathi) lost to Sarita (UP Dangal)

86kgM: Deepak Punia (Mumbai Maharathi) bt Irakli Misituri (UP Dangal)

53kgF: Vinesh Phogat (Mumbai Maharathi) bt Vanesa Kaladzinskaya (UP Dangal)

125kgM: Baitseev Vladislav (Mumbai Maharathi) lost to Georgi Sakandelidze (UP Dangal)

76kgF: Zseneth Nemeth (Mumbai Maharathi)  lost to Epp Mae (UP Dangal)

65kgM: Harphool (Mumbai Maharathi) beat Pankaj Rana (UP Dangal).