GAMMA World Championship 2021: India finish with 11 Medals, Surbala wins Gold

Team India finished with 11 medals at the GAMMA World Championship 2021 which happened in Amsterdam from 23 March 2022 to 27 March 2022.

First-Round Wins and Bronze Medals for India

India had a good showing from the first day itself with Aaquib Javid picking up the first win for the team. Aaquib, however, suffered a decision loss in his second bout which ended his campaign. Aditya Bhosale had a similar outing in the World Championship as he picked up a win in his first bout before suffering a loss in his second.

Chourajit Laishram registered a memorable run for India at the World Championship as he secured two dominant wins before falling short in the quarter-final matchup. Veinii Suffix and former World Championship Silver Medallist Sumit Bhyan also picked up wins in their respective first bouts but could not reach the medal rounds.

Asian Championship Gold Medallist Dinesh Naorem picked up a smooth win in his first fight. Dinesh, however, could not compete in the semi-finals due to an injury and had to settle for the Bronze Medal.

Havish Reddy, Naorem Dinesh, Arsenba Ozukum, Veinii Suffix, Syed Shahid Hussain and Peter Charles picked up bronze medals for the country.

Naorem Dinesh had to withdraw from his semi-final matchup due to an injury when Havish, Arsenba, Syed, Veinii and Charles suffered losses in their respective bouts.

Silver Medals and the historic Gold

On the last day of the World Championship, India had five final fights with GAMMA Asian Championship Gold Medallist Kishor BK, GAMMA Asian Championship Silver Medallist Longtsukumba Ao, Sarita Rathod, Surbala Laishram and Indiyana B in action.

Sarita was the first to fight and she went the complete distance against Victoria Anthony of USA before suffering a decision loss and settling for the Silver. Kishor BK had a similar fate as he was edged out by Begzhan Abilkassym of Kazakhstan.

Surbala Laishram then made history for India when she defeated Tomiris Zhussupova of Kazakhstan in the 115 LBS Striking MMA finals to secure the first-ever Gold Medal for India at the GAMMA World Championship. This was the first match for Surbala after a long break that she was forced to take due to an injury.

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Indiyana B followed Surbala at the World Championship and gave a resilient performance before going down in the second round against an experienced Joanna Walorska of Poland. Longtsukumba Ao closed the campaign for India with a silver medal in the 145 LBS Striking MMA category. He delivered an excellent performance against Mohammed Wasfi of Jordan in the finals and suffered a decision loss.

In the end, India had a successful campaign that saw the nation picking up a total of 11 Medals (1 Gold, 4 Silver, and 6 Bronze). India finished sixth in the overall standings with Kazakhstan leading the table followed by Poland, United States of America, Kyrgyzstan, and Azerbaijan. Below is the complete list of medal winners:

Gold Medal:

• Surbala Laishram (115 LBS Striking MMA)

Silver Medals:

• Kishor BK (115 LBS Striking MMA)
• Longtsukumba Ao (145 LBS Striking MMA)
• Sarita Rathod (105 LBS MMA)
• Indiyana B (145 LBS Striking MMA)

Bronze Medals:

• Havish Reddy (115 LBS MMA)
• Naorem Dinesh (125 LBS MMA)
• Arsenba Ozukum (125 LBS Striking MMA)
• Veinii Suffix (125 LBS Striking MMA)
• Peter Charles (-265 LBS Striking MMA)
• Syed Shahid Hussain (115 LBS Striking MMA)

What are your thoughts on the campaign of India? Let us know in the comment section of the article below.

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