Babita Phogat stepped on to the mat for the first time since the family’s story was recreated on celluloid and stepped off 46 seconds later, vanquished by former World and European champion Sofia Mattsson as Haryana Hammers outmuscled UP Dangal 5-2 in the Pro Wrestling League at the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday.
Mattsson scored the first four points within 30 seconds before pinning Babita to the mat to finish her bout 16 seconds later in the 53kg category. It was Haryana’s fourth win of the day, handing it the tie in the seven-bout match.
Sandeep Tomar bounced back from his humiliating loss to Rahul Aware in his previous bout to thrash Amit Dahiya 8-0 in the 57kg section.
UP’s two wins came through Belarusian Maria Mamashuk, who beat Kiran 6-4 (75kg) and captain Eitsa Yankova, who managed to tie 1-1 with Indu Chaudhary in the 48kg category, but won by virtue of being the last to score.
In the other matches, World champion Magomed Kurbanaliev of Russia blanked Amit Dhankar 8-0 (70kg), Rajneesh defeated Andrey Kviatkovski 5-1 (65kg) and Abdusalam Gadisov outplayed Mausam Khatri 8-0 (97kg).
