Mumbai: Prateek Deshmukh, Balaji Metkari, Imran Mujawar and Muntajir Sarnobat registered dominant victories to enter the semi-finals of the 32nd All India Mumbai Mayor Kesari Wrestling Tournament organised by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the Mumbai City Training Association at the Bhartiya Krida Mandir in Wadala.
Prateek Deshmukh will now take on Imran Mujawar in one semi-final, while Balaji Metkari will face Muntajir Sarnobat in the other.
The tournament featured four international wrestlers, but apart from Prateek Deshmukh — who had won a silver medal at the Under-23 Asian Wrestling Championship in Kazakhstan — the other international participants Omkar Katkar, Sunny Phulmali and Dinesh Kakade were knocked out in the preliminary rounds.
Prateek outclassed Vipul Parabal of Thane with a technical knockout victory by 10-0. Imran Mujawar of Sangli defeated Vaibhav Mane of Solapur comfortably, while Muntajir Sarnobat knocked out Sachin Kale of Solapur. Balaji Metkari edged past Vinayak Bajbal 5-3 in a closely fought contest.
In the Junior Kesari category, Vivek Patil defeated Harshvardhan Jadhav 5-4 in a tense battle. Jyothidharaj Mugdum secured an easy points victory over Samarth Boulkar, while Viraj Kadam defeated Trutiraja Mugdum 8-1. In another exciting encounter, Jay Bhoir of Thane overcame Meghraj Mane 7-4.
The tournament was inaugurated by MLA Kalidas Kolambkar. Mumbai City Training Association President Sanjay Shete, Corporator Amey Ghole, Secretary Prakash Tanwade and several dignitaries were present on the occasion.
Other Results
57–62 kg Group:
Jai Patil beat Dhananjay Bhandari; Vivek Bhandari beat Lucky Kharat; Jaideep Badre beat Akshay Bhoir; Vighneshwar Metkar beat Pramod Patil.
72 kg Group:
Gaurav Yadav beat Kunal Patil; Sachin Shinde beat Yash Dhakne; Om Kale beat Bhavesh Chaudhary; Sangram Davari beat Pratap Mane.
Sports Correspondent covers wrestling, cricket, football, athletics and grassroots sporting events across India for TheNews21.
