Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The sport, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), has picked up steam in state as sports professionals and fighters from Madhya Pradesh are making their presence felt in national arena with back-to-back selections for championships being held in different parts of the country.
Bhopal’s Rishi Manuja has been selected as a health inspector at the MMA fight league being organised by All India Martial Arts Association in Hyderabad.
Rishi says, “AIMMAA has tough selection process. There were about 150 officials involved in the selection process. I went through an interview over a call, which was set up by Dan Issac, the director and founder of AIMMA. Post clearance I went through rigorous official training sessions and webinars.”
He said he was selected after a practical assessment of event - Indian combat league.
“I have been given the role of health inspector, which means I will be monitoring health and fitness of fighters participating in this event, coordinating with other officials and medical board,” said the sports and exercise nutrition specialist and performance coach Manuja.
He completed course from National Academy of Sports Medicine in the United States of America. Rishi has been a record holder and gold medalist at 5 World Kung Fu Championship full Sanda (Wushu-Taolu) hosted by IWF.
Bhopal’s boxer Dushyant Kumar, on Friday, won the AKBF Pro-Fight Night held in Pune. Earlier, the Indian Open MMA National Championship held in the state saw MMA fighters from across India competing for top slots. The event was held for three days and saw a string of exciting bouts from state fighters. While Ram Gujjar exceeded in men’s welterweight, Dhruv Jat returned with a podium finish in men’s middleweight.
Akash Gautam and Nitesh Yadav too made it to the score board as second runners-up.
