It was Georgi Sakandelidze of Qatar who put the UP team 3-2 ahead in the tie with a dominating 16-1 win over the young Akash Antil of MP Yodha in the 125 kg super heavyweight category to give Dangal’s the advantage.
After that Sarita, who has shown mark improvement with every bout in the league this season, didn’t let Pooja make another of her famous comebacks to win the women’s 57 kg bout and clinch the tie.
Jitender put the icing on the cake for UP Dangal completely dominating Vasil Mikhailov in the inconsequential men’s 74 kg bout to seal the deal 7-2. This win gave UP Dangal a 5-2 win over MP Yodha.
Earlier, European champion Haji Aliyev came back from a two-point deficit early in the first round to beat UP Dangal’s Pankaj Rana by a huge 18-2 margin to give the debutants a head start.
In the next bout, UP Dangal’s Epp Mae of Estonia defeated MP Yodha’s Colombian wrestler Andrea Olaya by a pin fall. Epp won the bout 4-0 in the first few seconds of the first round.
Sandeep Tomar made it 2-0 for MP Yodha winning the next bout with a takedown on the counter attack against UP’s Rahul 5-1 after an intense tussle in the men’s 57 kg category.
After encountering a reverse against Pinki in an earlier round, world and European champion Vanesa Kaladzinskaya of UP kept her guard intact in this one and defeated MP’s Ritu Phogat 8-3 to bring the Dangal’s back into the game.
–IANS
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