Bahrainis reach India MMA championship semi-finals

Bahrain’s Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa (KHK MMA) amateur team in five categories qualified for the semi-finals yesterday in the Indian MMA Open Championship organised by the All India MMA Association (AIMMAA) under the supervision of the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) which concludes today as part of the Body Power Expo India 2016 event.

HH Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, First Deputy President of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports and President of the Bahrain Athletics Association congratulated the team by telephone following their successes in first and second round action.

Bahrain led by team manager Redha Monfaradi and Russian coach Eldar Eldarov and coach Rinat Ahmed saw success for Hussain Ayyad in the 57kg category with a first round win against India’s Nitesh Yadav in the first minute of the bout and followed up with a second round win over Mohammed Qasim and in the same category, Hassan Ayyag beat India’s Hari Krishnan in the second minute of the first round of round two.

Fahad Abdulrazaq also in the 57kg beat a duo of Indian fighters, first knocking out Arbaaz Yani in two minutes of the first round and then against Ahmed Khan in the second round by a referees’ decision.

In other action, Abdulla Seena won his first round bout in the 61kg category with a second minute defeat of Tevez Ahmed in round one by suffocation and then a second round suffocation in round one against Sothan Sannaga.

Isa Al Ameeri in the 70kg category was a winner in the second round against Mojtaba Firas.

Bahrain’s Mohammed Al Mullah and Ali Ebrahimi in the 77kg category are set for action today.

Around 300 fighters from Bahrain, UAE, Iran, Afghanistan and hosts India are in the fray on in which congratulated the team fighters, after the wonderful level of fighters in the preliminaries and qualifying the semi-finals, and that by participating in the championship.

Today the semi-finals and finals will take place to conclude the championship.