PWL: Delhi beat Mumbai to raise hope of semis berth

Skipper Khetik Shabalov on Sunday led from the front as Delhi Sultans put Mumbai Maharathis chances of making it to the semis on the backburner by beating them 5-2 in their final group game at the Pro Wrestling League (PWL) Season 4 currently underway at the Gautam Buddha University Indoor Stadium here. So dominating was Delhi's performance that they clinched the tie winning the first four bouts of the evening, raising an outside chance of making it to the semis, whereas Mumbai's fate now heavily depends on the outcome of the Punjab Royals and UP Dangal tie on Monday.

The Russian champion Delhi Sultans icon Khetik Shabalov overcame some early aggression from Mumbai Maharathi's Sachin Rathi to beat him 9-2 and give Delhi Sultans an early 1-0 lead. In the biggest turnaround of this season, Delhi's European Under-23 champion Anastasia Shustova of Ukraine came back from a 0-5 deficit to upset Mumbai's European Championships silver medallist Zseneth Nemeth of Hungary 10-5 in the last 30 seconds of the bout and gave Delhi a 2-0 lead.

In the next major upset of the evening, Delhi Sultans' Pankaj Mishra rallied from a 2-5 deficit to defeat the European U-23 champion of Mumbai Maharathi's Ibragim Ilyasov 11-8 in a thrilling encounter and give Delhi a 3-0 lead after the third bout of the evening. Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik, who came in next, didn't let go the early advantage that Delhi got as she defeated her training partner Mumbai Maharathi's Shilip Yadav 16-2 to clinch the tie.

Deepak Punia gave Mumbai something to cheer about winning his men's 86kg bout against Praveen Rana 18-2 on technical superiority. Asian games gold medallist Mumbai Maharathi's Vinesh Phogat survived a scare against giant-killer Pinki of Delhi Sultans in the women's 53 kg category before prevailing 14-9 in a closely-fought encounter. Andrey Kviatkovski of Ukraine put the icing on the cake for Delhi Sultans winning the last bout against Harphool 4-2 to complete the day's proceedings.