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Punjab Royals head coach Bhupesh Kumar rued his team's loss in the Pro Wrestling League (PWL) season 2026 semi-final against Haryana Thunders at the Noida Indoor Stadium on Friday night. On the other hand, Haryana Thunders player Neha Sangwan expressed delight on winning the semis and reaching the PWL final.
Punjab Royals went down to Haryana Thunders in the first semi-final match of the PWL 2026 as the latter won the match 5-4 and booked their place in the final. Speaking to ANI, Bhupesh Kumar said the semi-final loss is a major disappointment for the team, which had worked extremely hard to win the title. While he acknowledged that the defeat was difficult to accept, he remained confident about the future, noting that the Punjab Royals have a strong track record, having reached the finals three times in four seasons and won the championship twice. Notably, Punjab Royals won the PWL 2017 and 2018 seasons and then reached the finals of the 2019 edition. "We will not be able to recover from this shock anytime soon. The team had worked very hard. We had planned to win the finals, but today was not our day. Next time we will definitely win. We have done this before. In the four seasons so far, we reached the finals in three and have been the champions on two of those occasions," the Punjab Royals head coach said. Haryana Thunders wrestler Neha Sangwan expressed happiness after her team reached the Pro Wrestling League final, saying the team's focus is now on winning the trophy. "It feels very good to reach the finals. We just want to lift the trophy now. The match was very good. Our coaches had already prepared us, and we played accordingly. Against Delhi, the match will be one-sided, Maharashtra is giving tough competition," she said while speaking to ANI. Coming to the semi-final clash between Haryana Thunders and Punjab Royals, Haryana entered the contest as table-toppers with four wins and eight points and absorbed early pressure before turning the tie decisively in the second half, underlining why they have been the most consistent side of the season. Punjab Royals, who finished fourth in the league stage, pushed Haryana all the way in a gripping nine-bout contest that saw the latter win by 5-4, as per a PWL press release. Key contributions came from Parvinder, who earned Impact Player of the Match, and Priya Malik, who received Fighter of the Match for her dominant victory in the women's 76kg bout. Iryna Koliadenko was named Player of the Match after her decisive fall in the 62kg women's contest that proved to be the turning point as Haryana booked their place in the final. (ANI)
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