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X1 International: All-women fight night punches in extra power at Pune cafe
The event showcased fighters who have competed under the brand of X1 International since day one and also a debutant who entered her first bout
X1 International returned to Pune to conduct the second edition of the All Women’s Fight Card at the High Spirits Cafe on Wednesday. The organisation has already conducted two events prior to this in the city, but this was the first time they hosted an event which featured all female fighters.
The event showcased fighters who have competed under the brand of X1 International since day one and also a debutant who entered her first bout.
Sanika Patil from Team Relentless entered the cage for the first time here. Based in Mumbai and trained under coach Jitendra Khare, the youngster mentioned that she was completely confident before her bout against Harpreet Kaur. Sanika showed no signs of nervousness ahead of her bout, but could not overpower her opponent and tapped out, giving Kaur the win.
The main event featured Suman Pal of X9 MMA and Akshata Khadtare of Team Relentless. Akshata has been competing in X1 International tournaments ever since the organisation started last year. Under the guidance of coach Jitendra Khare, Akshata also participated and won the bronze medal at the WMMA World Championships in Kazakhstan. Ever since she has entered the field of MMA, she has been undefeated on Indian soil.
Since MMA as a sport, has not taken off in the nation yet, among the crowd was Vishwesh Desai, a coach who aims to start his own academy, MMA Syndicate, in the city. Desai believes that events hosted by X1 International have the potential to be the main catalyst which is needed to promote MMA as a sport in the nation. Desai is all set to lend a helping hand to push MMA in the nation by starting his academy by the end of this year.
Founder of Nitroid Nutrition, Shabbir Kapasi, believes MMA has a very bright future in the nation. Kapasi, whose organisation is among the sponsors added that the biggest boost for MMA could be the talks of it being included in the Olympics after being approved by the association.
Being a full contact, combat sport, there is always an imminent threat of injuries in MMA. Anything goes inside the cage, as long as it does not break the standard MMA rules. The chief of the medical committee, Dr Sujay Patil from Ruby Hall Clinic, Wanowrie, stated that even though it is a full contact contest, pushing MMA as a sport would be a fantastic move for all the young fighters in the country. Dr Sujay also specified that in all events X1 International has hosted, the Ruby Hall team has not encountered any serious injuries. The fighters do get minor cuts and bruises, but that is completely normal considering the nature of the sport.
The event began with Sneha Sawant of Ignition FSS facing off against Dhanavath Kavyanjali of Warriors Combat Sports. Sneha won the first single-round bout after she locked Dhanavath in a chokehold, to which Dhanavath tapped out. In the second bout, debutant, Sanika Patil was also pinned down and put under a submission manoeuvre by her opponent Harpreet Kaur from Team Livactiv. Sanika tried her best to fight out of the choke hold, but ended up tapping out and losing her first bout.
The third bout, including Mayuri Tarulkar from Amaan’s MMA Academy and Soma Devi from Nurpur Sports Club, went on for 3 rounds with neither fighter tapping out or getting knocked out. In the end, a unanimous decision by the judges resulted in a hard fought victory for Mayuri.
Players speak
Somi Devi - “I’ve been training hard, but I’m not happy with the result. I should have won, but ultimately it was up to the judges to decide. I’m unhappy with their decisions. But I have to put this result behind me and move on, train harder and win the next bout I fight.”
Priya Singh - “It was an unfortunate loss. I think it was mainly because of the fact that I didn’t train hard enough. I’m disappointed, but I have to focus on training now and take it to the next level.”