Barwani (M.P.), March 28 Pro Panja League hosted Mega Matches on the holy banks of the Narmada River in Badwani/Barwani, Madhya Pradesh, with competitions held in five categories including 60kg, 60+ kg, and 100+ Kg categories.
The event was co-organized on Thursday evening in association with Manoj Patel of the Barwani District Association and saw Arm Wrestlers compete across five categories.
The tournament began with the 60kg category, in which Sachin Tomar dominated against Shoaib Akhtar 3-0. In 65+kg, Asha Kumar edged past Kritika Bamel 3-2 while in 100+kg, Manish Kumar beat Sunil Anthony 3-2.
In the specially-abled category, Devendra Yadav enjoyed a commanding 3-0 win over Manoj Patel. Lastly, multiple-time national and state champion and player of the Mumbai Muscle franchise of Pro Panja League, Jogendra Yadav, defeated Divakar Jadon 3-0 in the 75kg category.
About the event, Pro Panja co-founder, Parvinn Dabass stated, “We're thrilled to bring Pro Panja League to Madhya Pradesh, that too on the sacred banks of the Narmada River. Promoting Arm Wrestling as a sport while paying respects to our rich cultural heritage was a wonderful experience.
"We are taking the sport to exciting locations around the country through which the audience discovers both the sport and unseen tourist spots of Bharat. We are committed to providing a platform for our talented athletes to shine from all across the country and we hope to see the sport grow even more,” he said.
Preeti Jhangiani, another co-founder, spoke along similar lines and said, “As the president of PAFI and Vice-President of the Asian Arm Wrestling Federation, I would like to stress the importance of having such events all across the country.
"We have seen a massive growth in the number of professional ArmWrestlers and fans of the sport due to such events and we promise to continue to explore more states and help athletes come up and showcase their talent,” she added.
Started in 2023, the Pro Panja League (PPL) is a professional Indian arm wrestling league with six teams competing for the top honours.
Each team plays the other twice during the round-robin stage, and then the top four teams (based on total points scored) compete in the playoffs, which consist of two semifinals (1st vs 4th, and 2nd vs 3rd) and then a final.
The six teams competing in the league are Kiraak Hyderabad, Mumbai Muscle, Rohtak Rowdies, Ludhiana Lions, Baroda Badshahs, and Kochi KD, and involves 180 players participating in 10 different weight categories.
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