Nagoya, 21 September

Suchika Tariyal settled for a bronze medal in the women's traditional 60kg mixed martial arts event of the Asian Games here on Monday as Singapore's Hui Hoon Teo was awarded the semifinal on the basis of her lesser weight after the two fighters drew a fiercely-contested bout.

This was India's maiden medal in the discipline that made its debut at the 20th edition of the Games here. Tariyal, however, was shattered by the result and wept bitterly on the mat once the final decision was announced in Teo's favour.

The bronze took India's overall medal tally to six at the continental showpiece. Shooters have bagged four silver medals and one bronze so far.

Hailing from Kiloi village in Haryana's Rohtak district, the 36-year-old Suchika is a 2024 world champion in jiu-jitsu, represented the country in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in judo and as a kurash fighter at the 2022 Asian Games.

"I am a little disappointed with the result of today's bout because I thought I won the fight. I am not able to agree with the result. I was saying that this is not fair," Suchika told PTI in an exclusive interaction after her bout.

"This is not fair. Because if you look at a player, he or she gives 100 per cent everywhere. And if you feel that the decision is unfair, then it is my right (to express myself).

"I won both my rounds very well because I took her down. She did not even take me down. Yes, there could have been two-three connecting punches. I also landed a connecting punch. And in the last minute, she was going back and forth. Then I was applying my kick. I was hitting her again and again.”

She, however, was proud of becoming the first Indian athlete to win a medal in the Asian Games in Mixed Martial Arts.

"I have given my 100 per cent and worked hard to reach here. I am happy I have won a bronze medal for the country."

The closely-fought bout was initially ruled in Teo's favour but after an Indian challenge, the result was declared a draw with six judges rendering split decision.

The winner was then determined on the basis of weights of the fighters during the morning weigh-in under the international federation's rules.

Since the Singaporean weighed 700gm lesser than Suchika, she was declared the winner and advanced to the final. Suchika settled for bronze.

"We challenged the decision by paying an arbitration fee of USD 1000. Three new judges were added (to the earlier three) to conduct the arbitration and scored the bout again. When those three new judges came, the bout was scored a draw," MMA Sports Federation president Nikhil Kunder told PTI.

"The Singapore team had an option to either counter-arbitrate where three more judges would come in and score the bout again or go for the weight that was taken in the morning weigh-ins. That's the rule of IMMAF (International Mixed Martial Arts Federation).

Kunder said Suchika weighed around 59.2kg in the morning while her opponent was found to be 58.5kg.

"She is devastated, this is something that she didn't prepare for. We did a good camp. She was in a good state of mind. The fight was very close. She landed a lot of punches. Personally, the second round belonged to Suchika," he said.

The bout was so close that both rounds of two minutes each were split 1-1 by the three judges. One of the three judges in both the rounds gave 10-10 to both the fighters.

After the regulation two rounds, the three judges could not come to a verdict. One judge gave 19 points each to the two fighters. One gave 19-20 and the other ruled 20-19 in Suchika's favour.

The bout went to overtime of one minute in which Teo emerged winner with two judges giving her 10 points.

Both Suchika and Teo raised their hands.

When the scorecard was flashed on the electronic board, a stunned Suchika shook her head in disbelief. The referee called her for raising of the winner's hand but Suchika remained at a distance.

After the referee raised Teo's hands, Suchika dropped down on her knees and was seen being consoled by the coaches. She, however, wrapped herself with the tricolor and took a small lap of honour.

Despite the disappointment, the bronze is India's first-ever medal in mixed martial arts at the Asian Games.

The 36-year-old from Haryana took up combat sports after facing street harassment as a 12-year-old and went on to become a multi-discipline combat sport athlete.