Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi, Nov 3: Olympic medallist grapplers Yogeshwar Dutt and Sushil Kumar were the highest grossers in the Pro Wrestling League auction, conducted here Tuesday.
The 2012 Olympics Bronze medallist Yogeshwar, attracting the highest bids, was bought for `39.70 lakh by Team Haryana. Sushil went for `38.20 lakh and was snapped up by Team Uttar Pradesh.
Yogeshwar and two-time Olympic medallist Sushil were clubbed in the ‘Icon’ category that consisted of six wrestlers. They had a base price of `30,00,000.
The other wrestlers clubbed in the ‘Icon’ category were the home grown Narsingh Yadav, female wrestler Geeta Phogat, star female foreigners, American Adeline Gray and Sweden’s Sofia Mattsson.
Narsingh was bought by Team Bengaluru for `34.50 lakh. Phogat was snapped up by Team Punjab at her base price.
Gray’s services was bought by team Mumbai for `37 lakh while team Delhi acquired Mattsson for her base price.
Over 50 wrestlers went under the hammer. Six franchisees participated in the auction with a purchase capacity of rupees two crore each.
The tournament, with a total prize money of rupees three crore, will be conducted December 10-27 across the bases of the six franchisees. Eighteen ties will be held during the tournament, 15 among them being league ties, followed by two semifinals and a final. Each tie comprises nine bouts and will be played in accordance with the Olympics wrestling rules.
The six teams will each have nine players (five men and four women). Each team can have a maximum of five Indians and four foreigners. For every winning bout a team will get six points.