Team Herald
PANJIM: Goa-born, Rizwan Sab, a young man fighting out of Tribal Warriors Gym in Anjuna, was crowned the new WKO K1 champion of India as he defeated defending champion, Abuzar Choudhary, in a tense five-round battle at Anjuna, recently.
With Abu walking at almost 10kg more than Rizwan, the smaller fighter had to play a smart game of cat and mouse. He hopped in and out of Abuzar’s range, carefully dodging and countering the defending champion’s attacks. Abu caught Rizwan with some good shots, but Rizu weathered these well and kept moving sharply for the five rounds.
The judges, an experienced group of officials representing the sanctioning body, WKO (World Kickboxing Organisation), called the fight spot on, giving the win to a deserving Rizwan Sab.
Another local fighter and reigning State champion, Mahableshwar Toraskar, also stepping into the cage with a huge weight disadvantage and fighting out of Tribal Warriors Gym, got everyone talking with his pre-fight banter. He faced Zaid Shaikh from Team Vipers 15 in Mumbai in a bid to become WKO West Zone champ.
Zaid was cool, calm and very composed. Mablu smartly dodged and blocked the first few exchanges, but for a moment he dropped his guard when he checked an incoming kick from Zaid. The focused fighter from Mumbai seized the moment and threw a cracking left hook, right hook combination, which knocked Mablu out cold.
Shoaib Khan of South Goa was the star of the night in the only professional MMA bout and he put up a clinical performance, overcoming his opponent Abrar Uddin with a points decision in the three round match.
Nikhil Thapa of XFC in South Goa overcame his opponent, Laxman Lamani of Tashi’s Pro MMA in Calangute, in a five-round war, to become the first ever Goa State MMA champion.
Nikhil dominated from the start, but looked like he may be gassing out when a power-cut stopped the fight for five minutes. The fighters came out revived and Nikhil took the win on points with a unanimous decision, becoming the Atomweight MMA champion of Goa.
Goan karateka, Prabhakar Parsekar of St Anthony MMA Academy, was the last of the main card fighters. He is an old school full contact kumite karate fighter, who is also a Goa State karate champion. He stepped into the cage for the first time under the K1 Rule set, which is a really tough transition.
