Pro Panja League 2023: Kochi KD defeat Kiraak Hyderabad to clinch inaugural edition

The first edition featured six teams

Kochi KD's defeated Kiraak Hyderabad 30-28 in the Final of the inaugural edition of the Pro Panja League 2023 at the IGI Stadium in New Delhi on Sunday. The thrilling finale of the Pro Panja League was a star-studded affair with Bollywood superstar and entrepreneur Suniel Shetty, who has joined Pro Panja League as a minority stakeholder, in attendance to witness the armwrestling action. Hon'ble Rajya Sabha MP Shri Rajiv Shuklaalso came to enjoy the final of the night.

The summit clash was neck-and-neck after the Undercard with Rudra Naik and Prince Kumar winning their bouts for Kochi, while Butta Singh and Savita Kumari gaining pins over their opponents for Kiraak. In the main card, Kochi's Chetna Sharma squared off against Madhura KN in her toughest 65kg bout of the competition. Chetna won the bout with a clean sweep to put Kochi in lead.

But Hyderabad's Stewe Thomas activated Challenger Round instantly in the next match against Kochi's Akash Kumar in the 70kg bout to win 10-0, and turned the tables. But the twists and turns continued on the night as Yogesh Chaudhary continued her dominance in Pro Panja League, and activated Challenger Round against Jincy Jose in 65kg bout. With a 10-0 win, Kochi took the lead once again.

Kiraak's Captain Asker Ali was up against Kochi's Prince Dhir in the 80kg bout and the chess game between the two teams continued. Asker activated the second Challenger Round to win the match 10-0 and again brought Kiraak back into the contest. Siddharth Malakar pinned Shaikh Md Abrar with a cleansweep to get 5 points in 90kg bout, but Mazahir Saidu beat Ujjwal Agrawal 10-0 to push the match to a tie-breaker.

Kiraak's Stewe pinned Rudra Naik to give Kiraak the lead in the tie-breaker, but Mazahir pinned Asker Ali to level the score. Chetna Sharma pinned Madhura KN to give Kochi KD's the lead and then Yogesh Chaudhary beat Jincy Jose once again to help Kochi KD's clinch the trophy. 

For live scorecard and results, download Pro Panja League app from Playstore on Android and IOS. 

Pro Panja League Season 1 Finale took place on 13th August 2023 and will be broadcast LIVE on Sony Sports Ten 3 SD and Sony Sports Ten 3 HD and will be available to livestream on FanCode.