Hammers cruise to victory

Haryana Hammers, riding on the brilliance of Rio Olympics bronze medalist Sun Yanan of China, cruised to a 5-2 victory over Delhi Sultans in the Pro Wrestling League at the Siri Fort Indoor Stadium on Friday.

Yanan pummelled Maroi Mezien of Tunisia 11-2 in the women's 50 kg category and sealed the contest even before the last bout was fought. This is last year's finalists Haryana's second consecutive win of the season.

Sumit Kumar then picked a hard-fought 4-2 win in the last bout of the day over his compatriot Hitender Kumar in 125 kgs to make it 5-2 in the favour of the Hammers.

With the scores levelled at 2-2, Khetik Tsavalov of Russia put Haryana ahead by eking out a convincing 10-0 victory over young Indian wrestler Vinod Omprakash in the 74 kg competition. Vinod, who replaced an injured Sushil Kumar in the line-up, could not mount a serious challenge to his fancied rival.

Earlier in the day, Delhi blocked Rio Olympics gold medalist Vladimir Khinchegashvili after winning the toss; Haryana used their card to keep Egypt's Samar Amer Ibrahim.

World Champion Haji Aliev of Azerbaijan gave Delhi a flying start by beating India's Harphool 11-4 in the 65 kg competition.

Haryana, however, bounced back in the second encounter as Sarita beat Monia in the 62-kg competition. Delhi's Icon player Alborov Aslan then played with ease to beat India's Deepak Punia 15-0 by technical superiority in the 92 kg event and helped his team to gain the the lead.

The World Championship bronze medallist came into the bout as a strong favourite and lived up to the expectations. He dominated his opponent from start to finish and underlined his superiority.

Helen Maroulis of the USA then levelled the scores 2-2 for Hammers after she registered a 6-6 victory by pinfall against 2017 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship's silver medallist Sangeeta Phoghat.

The World and Olympic champion Helen was trailing 2-6 at one stage but she overpowered her opponent, rolled her over twice and then pinned her to the mat to bring Hammers back into the seven-bout tie.