Shahid Pahlwan Khoyawala went down to an Indian wrestler in the Indo-Pak Dangal here at the Punjab Stadium on Monday. Shahid could not maintain balance of his own lock and was downed by Santinder Singh in the counterattack. This was the second phase as the wrestlers met at Gujranwala in the first phase. The dangal between Shahid and Santinder lasted for around five minutes and the Pakistan wrestler was dominating the proceeding in his try to keep his hold on the Indian wrestler. But in the same process, the Indian wrestler kept his stamina intact and used Shahid’s own force against him and made him go off balance to win the title. The second phase of the Indo-Pak Dangal was played here at the Punjab Stadium where as many as 10 other bout were also held.
Earlier, during the initial round of competitions, both the main wrestlers entered the stadium in traditional style. Shahid, who is also Sher-e-Punjab and Rustam-e-Punjab, took the traditional salute while jumping on one leg on the beat of drum. He took the round of the playing area and waved to the fans. The way public turned up to watch the competitions, it seemed that it was the rebirth of the traditional style wrestling and the public interest shows that they want more of such events. After Shahid went off the arena, Indian wrestler Santinder Singh entered the arena wrapped in Indian flag. His entry was simple and after taking a round of the playing area he also left for the dressing room to prepare for the dangal.
Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, MNA, and son of Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, was the chief guest of the main dangal. A large number of Punjab government and sports officials were also present on the occasion. From among the 10 competitions among different aged and upcoming wrestlers, Mustafa Pahlwan, Danish and Rashid turned out to be the winners after having gone through rigorous show of power and skill.
On the other hand the competitions between Amer Chree Pahlwan and Shafaqat Pahlwan, Hamza Pahlwan and Hassan Pahlwan, Abid Commando and Asif Pahlwan, Ali Pahlwan and Abdul Jabbar Pahlwan, Pervaiz and Hafiz Doodwala, Haroon Pahlwan and Nomi Pahlwan produced no results.
Interestingly, Pervaiz, who is the winner of silver medal in the Commonwealth Games wrestling, got injured his right ankle but despite the injury he kept on playing and held Hafiz to a draw. Rashid beat Pappu in a 10 minute show of strength and Danish took half the time to down Mama and Mustafa prevailed over Mohammad Ali in around seven minutes.
