American women stars Gray and Lampe to compete in India’s Professional Wrestling League, Dec. 10-27

American women’s wrestling stars, Adeline Gray and Alyssa Lampe, shown at the 2015 World Championships, will compete in the India Professional Wrestling League throughout December. Photo by Tony Rotundo, Wrestlers Are Warriors

Two top U.S. women’s wrestlers will compete in the new Professional Wrestling League in India, three-time World champion Adeline Gray (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) and two-time World bronze medalist Alyssa Lampe (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids).
The Indian Wrestling Federation, working with promoter ProSportify, have formed this new league, which will have dual meet teams representing six different cities in India. Competition will be in men’s and women’s freestyle. Each team will include five athletes from India and four athletes from other nations. There are substantial salaries offered to these wrestlers who will compete at least five different times during the 18 days of the new league. Some media accounts indicate that there is $3 million U.S. dollars to be distributed for the athletes.
An athlete auction was held in early November, where each team bid on wrestlers to fill their teams. Adeline Gray was selected early on by the team from Mumbai, while Alyssa Lampe was later chosen by the team from Bangalore.
There were 159 athletes were on the auction board, and only 54 were selected. Americans considered but not drafted were men’s World bronze medalist James Green, and women’s freestyle wrestlers Alli Ragan and Tamyra Mensah. Since the draft was held, Gray and Lampe agreed to participate and will be leaving for India early next week.
The decision by the Indian league to feature a substantial number of women was one of the appeals to Gray.
“The fact that they are including women is huge. The financial aspect of this is also nice. We work hard and have to live on the money we make. The pay for this is comforting for us. I am mainly excited because they are including women, almost with equality. When I think of countries with equality for women, India is not in the forefront of my mind, so this is great,” said Gray.
Both Americans are looking forward to the opportunity to explore a new country and culture over an extended period of time.
“We are getting paid quite a bit. I have never been to India before. I want to experience all of that. We are going to six different cities in India, so I will get a chance to see a lot of India. I was pretty excited when I was drafted. It is a great opportunity and I am proud to be a part of it,” said Lampe.
“It is a cool experience. I am really excited to go to six different cities in India. The United States and Canada are the only two countries I have had an opportunity to explore like this. I have been to Sweden six times, but to the same location. It would be like going to the USA six times, but only going to Iowa every time. This will be fun,” said Gray.
Every day, there will be a different dual meet hosted, with teams competing in all six cities. The first three dual meets (Dec. 10-12) will be held in Delhi, the capital of India at its KD Jadhav Stadium, then the events will rotate to the other five locations. After all of the dual meets are held, the teams will return to Delhi, where the semifinals dual meets and the finals dual meet will be hosted back in Delhi, Dec. 25-27.
The U.S. athletes are looking forward to the challenge of international competition, which is part of their preparation for the upcoming 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Iowa City, Iowa, April 9-10.
“The international matches are huge. There will also be the experience of training on my own and picking and choosing the areas I will be focusing on. It will take maturity for me to work on those focus areas on my own. I want to get better in December. I will be training through December, in addition to the matches. I will be trying new things while I am there,” said Gray.
“I think having the international competition and feeling the international style a little bit more will be great for me going into the Olympic year. My training is going well. We are still tweaking some things. I feel strong, fast and ready to go for this year. I am going to make a good run for it (at the Olympic Trials),” said Lampe.
The league is expected to get wide media coverage in India, a nation which has a strong following for wrestling. According to the Television Post newspaper, “Multi Screen Media (MSM) will air the Pro Wrestling League (PWL) on three channels, namely Hindi movie channel Sony Max, sports channel Sony Six and Hindi GEC Sony Pal. The league matches will also be streamed live on MSM’s video-on-demand platform Sony Liv.”
Gray, who will be taking the longest flight of her life on the way to India and will have her sister Geneva there as a training partner, feels that this league could help in the worldwide promotion of the sport. She thinks that the success of this league could provide new opportunities for wrestlers in the future.
“It will be an awesome opportunity. They will be trying to highlight wrestling in a new light and make it more exciting for spectators. We need more focus on wrestling worldwide. India is trying to make it a show. India won some medals at the last Olympics. Having fans behind them going into the Rio Olympics is huge. We need to do that here too,” said Gray.
Lampe got the blessing of her family back in Wisconsin, after she let them know that she would miss the Christmas holiday to participate in the league. She promised the family that she will visit them after she returns from India. Lampe is also looking forward to meeting new athletes from a variety of other countries.
“I am nervous but excited. I don’t know how many of my teammates speak English. It will be fun to get to know some of the top girls from around the world from the other weight classes,” she said.
Based upon the published rosters, the league will feature the best athletes from India, plus wrestlers from 11 other nations, listed alphabetically: Argentina, Belarus, Cuba, Georgia, Mongolia, Nigeria, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, United States and Uzbekistan. Both Georgia and Ukraine have five athletes each that were chosen in the draft, while Sweden has three wrestlers in the league.
The top stars from India include 2010 World champion and two-time Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar, who is on the Uttar Pradesh team and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Yogeshwar Dutt, who will wrestle for the Haryana team.
Ironically, it was not an Indian athlete who received the highest bid in the auction, but it was Oksana Herhel of Ukraine, the 2015 World champion at 60 kg, who was selected by Haryana.
The rest of the world will watch with major interest as the India Professional Wrestling League action unfolds. Other countries such as Iran and Germany have had professional leagues which have featured athletes from many nations. If the India league catches on, this could be a big step forward for the sport.
Pro Wrestling League India 2015 Official Website and Social Media Outlets
PWL Facebook page
PWL Website
PWL YouTube Channel
PWL Twitter
INDIA PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING LEAGUE SCHEDULE

As posted on its official website
Thursday, December 10 – Delhi vs. Uttar Pradesh in Delhi
Friday, December 11 – Punjab vs. Mumbai in Delhi
Saturday, December 12 – Haryana vs. Bangalore in Delhi
Sunday, December 13 – Punjab vs. Uttar Pradesh in Punjab (Ludhiana)
Monday, December 14 – Delhi vs. Haryana in Punjab (Ludhiana)
Tuesday, December 15 – Mumbai vs. Bangalore in Punjab (Ludhiana)
Wednesday, December 16 – Haryana vs. Uttar Pradesh in Haryana (Gurgaon)
Thursday, December 17 – Bangalore vs. Punjab in Haryana (Gurgaon)
Friday, December 18 – Delhi vs. Mumbai in Haryana (Gurgaon)
Saturday, December 19 – Uttar Pradesh vs. Bangalore in Uttar Pradesh (Noida)
Sunday, December 20 – Delhi vs. Punjab in Uttar Pradesh (Noida)
Monday, December 21 – Mumbai vs. Uttar Pradesh in Mumbai
Tuesday, December 22 – Haryana vs. Punjab in Mumbai
Wednesday, December 23 – Bangalore vs. Delhi in Bangalore
Thursday, December 24 – Mumbai vs. Haryana I Bangalore
Friday, December 25 – Semifinals 1 in Delhi
Saturday, December 26 – Semifinals 2 in Delhi
Sunday, December 27 – Finals in Delhi
INDIA PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING LEAGUE TEAM ROSTERS

As posted on its official website


PUNJAB
Women
48 kg Fredrika Pettersson (Sweden)
53 kg Priyanka Phogat (India)
58 kg Geeta Phogat (India)
69 kg Vasalisa Marzaliuk (Belarus)
Men
57 kg Vladimir Khinchegashvili (Georgia)
65 kg Rajneesh (India)
74 kg Parveen Rana (India)
97 kg Mausam Khatri (India)
125 kg Jargalsaikhan Chuluunbat (Mongolia)
BANGALORE
Women
48 kg Alyssa Lampe (United States)
53 kg Lalita Sherawat (India)
58 kg Malin Johanna Mattsson (Sweden)
69 kg Navjot Kaur (India)
Men
57 kg Sandeep Tomar (India)
65 kg Bajrang Punia (India)
74 kg Narsingh Yadav (India)
97 kg Pavlo Oliynik (Ukraine)
125 kg Davit Modzmanashvili (Georgia)
DELHI
Women
48 kg Vinesh Phogat (India)
53 kg Sofia Mattsson (Sweden)
58 kg Elif Jale Yesilirmak (Turkey)
69 kg Nikki (India)
Men
57 kg Ravi Kumar (India)
65 kg Navruzov Ikhtiyor (Uzbekistan)
74 kg Dinesh Kumar (India)
97 kg Gurpal Singh (India)
125 kg Geno Petriashvili (Georgia)
HARYANA
Women
48 kg Nirmal Devi (India)
53 kg Tatyana Kit (Ukraine)
58 kg Oksana Herhel (Ukraine)
69 kg Geetika Jakhar (India)
Men
57 kg Amit Dahiya (India)
65 kg Yogeshwar Dutt (India)
74 kg Livan Lopez Azcuy (Cuba)
97 kg Yuri Maier (Argentina)
125 kg Hitender (India)
UTTAR PRADESH
Women
48 kg Oleksandra Kogut (Ukraine)
53 kg Babita Kumari (India)
58 kg Ritu Malik (India)
69 kg Alina Makhinia (Ukraine)
Men
57 kg Sergey Ratushniy (Ukraine)
65 kg Ganzorig Mandakhnran (Mongolia)
74 kg Sushil Kumar (India)
97 kg Satyavrat Kadian (India)
125 kg Joginder Kumar (India)
MUMBAI
Women
48 kg Ritu Phogat (India)
53 kg Odunayo Adekuoroye (Nigeria)
58 kg Sakshi Malik (India)
69 kg Adeline Gray (United States)
Men
57 kg Rahul Aware (India)
65 kg Amit Dhankar (India)
74 kg Pardeeo (India)
97 kg Elizbar Odikadze (Georgia)
125 kg Levan Berianidze (Georgia)
Athletes, by weight class (with team and home nation)
Women 48 kg – Geeta Phogat (Punjab/India), Alyssa Lampe (Bangalore/USA), Vinesh Phogat (Delhi/India), Nirmal Devi (Haryana/India), Oleksandra Kohut (Uttar Pradash/Ukraine), Ritu Phogat (Mumbai/India)
Women 53 kg – Fredrika Pettersson (Punjab/Sweden), Lalita Sherawat (Bangalore/India), Sofia Mattsson (Delhi/Sweden), Tatyana Kit (Haryana/Ukraine), Babita Kumari (Uttar Pradesh/India), Odunayo Adekuoroye (Mumbai/Nigeria)
Women 58 kg – Priyanka Phogat (Punjab/India), Malin Johanna Mattsson (Bangalore/Sweden), Yesilirmak Elif Jale (Delhi/Turkey), Oksana Herhel (Haryana/Ukraine), Ritu Malik (Uttar Pradesh/India), Sakshi Malik (Mumbai/India)
Women 69 kg + – Vasilisa Marzaliuk (Punjab/Belarus), Kaur Navjot (Bangalore/India), Nikki (Delhi/India), Geetika Jakhar (Haryana/India), Alina Makhinia (Uttar Pradesh/Ukraine), Adeline Gray (Mumbai/USA)
Men 57 kg – Vladimir Khinchegashvili (Punjab/Georgia), Sandeep Tomar (Bangalore/India), Ravi Kumar (Delhi/India), Amit Dahiya (Haryana/India), Sergey Ratushniy (Uttar Pradesh/Ukraine), Rahul Aware (Mumbai/India)
Men 65 kg – Rajneesh (Punjab/India), Bajrang Punia (Bangalore/India), Ikhtiyor Navruzov (Delhi/Uzbekistan), Yogeshwar Dutt (Haryana/India), Ganzorig Mandakhnran (Uttar Pradesh/Mongolia), Amit Dhankar (Mumbai/India)
Men 74 kg – Parveen Rana (Punjab/India), Narsingh Yadav (Bangalore/India), Dinesh Kumar (Delhi/India), Livan Lopez (Haryana/Cuba), Sushil Kumar (Uttar Pradesh/India), Pardeep (Mumbai/India)
Men 97 kg – Mausam Khatri (Punjab/India), Pavlo Oliynik (Bangalore/Ukraine), Gurpal Singh (Delhi/India), Yuri Maier (Haryana/Argentina), Satyavrat Kadian (Uttar Pradesh/India), Elizbar Odikadze (Mumbai/Georgia)
Men 125 kg – Jargalsaikhan Chuluunbat (Punjab/Mongolia), Davit Modzmanashvili (Bangalore/Georgia), Geno Petriashvili (Delhi/Georgia), Hitender (Haryana/India), Joginder Kumar (Uttar Pradesh/India), Levan Berianidze (Mumbai/Georgia)