New Delhi, Sept 24 (PTI) India’s first-ever Mixed Martial Arts medallist Suchika Tariyal on Thursday said she was robbed of a “deserving” gold medal win at the Asian Games due to “weird weight rules”.
With MMA making its debut at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, Suchika won a bronze for India’s historic medal at the event after the 36-year-old lost to Singapore’s Tea Hui Hoon in the semifinal.
Suchika said she was “clearly” winning the semifinal but the outcome of the draw was declared “very strangely”.
“I was clearly winning the bout, but it was declared a draw very strangely. Instead of (having) one more round, they applied these weird weight rules which virtually robbed me of my deserving gold medal,” Suchika told PTI on her arrival at the IGI Airport here on Thursday.
“Regarding the weight rule, I felt it was a very bad rule. They could have let me play one more round. Even if I had lost that round, I could have accepted it, but I could not accept what happened,” she said.
Suchika reiterated that the way she was performing, the gold medal was within her grasp.
“I am very happy to get a medal. The way I was playing, it looked like I would win the gold medal. I know how I reached that stage. I worked very hard, and I couldn’t lose like that. As far as I know, I was winning both the bouts,” Suchika said.
“Even in the one-minute round, I was dominating her. She was running backwards, and I was on top of her. I had told you that the federation is from Singapore, so maybe they had to make her win,” she added.
“Maybe they had already made a commitment internationally and could not go back on their word.”
Suchika claimed that the officials could have announced both the competitors as winners.
“When I raised the issue with the federation, the match was declared a draw. They said both of us were equal, but then they gave her the win. I could have been given the win as well,” the 36-year-old said.
“I do not know why they did that. I am not saying it was cheating. If you are declaring the match a draw, you could have given me the win too. What was my shortcoming that you gave her the win? That is all I want to say.”
She continued, “You can call it bad luck. I am not saying that I was defeated because of cheating. I am very happy; I cannot express it.”
Suchika, however, said she is content winning the bronze medal.
“Still, I am happy that I have won a bronze medal because it is more precious to me than my life. I have worked extremely hard for it,” she said.
With MMA not being a part of the Olympics programme, Suchika said she would prepare for next year’s World Championship.
“There is the World Championship, and I will prepare for that. I have more fights coming up, so I will fight there as well,” Suchika said.
“MMA can also potentially be part of the Olympics. It is not there at the moment, but it could be included in the future. I will continue with my preparation,” she added. PTI SR DDV
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