MMA Duo Storm Into Finals

TDT | Manama

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Bahrain’s Diana Pogosian and Mukhammad Nabiev will fight for Asian Games gold today after both won their MMA semi-finals at the Nagoya City Inae Sports Centre yesterday.

Pogosian secured her place in the women’s modern MMA under-54kg final after defeating South Korea’s Bomi Lee by doctor stoppage just one minute and 20 seconds into the opening round.

The 24-year-old will now face Thailand’s Kanjutha Phattaraboonsorn in the gold-medal bout at 8.17am, Bahrain time.

Nabiev followed his compatriot into a title fight with a unanimous-decision victory over Kyrgyzstan’s Syimyk Zhanybek Uulu in the men’s traditional MMA under-77kg semi-finals.

The 31-year-old will meet Kazakhstan’s Yerkingali Burkutalin for gold at 8.34am.

Pogosian and Nabiev had already guaranteed Bahrain at least two bronze medals by reaching the semi-finals, but yesterday’s victories ensured both will leave the Games with no worse than silver.

Pogosian began her campaign with a unanimous-decision quarter-final victory over Japan’s Tomoe Katayama, while Nabiev defeated Vietnam’s Van Minh Quang by unanimous decision before advancing from the quarter-finals without fighting after India’s Varun Aryamaan Sanyal was ruled out.

Their finals form part of today’s concluding MMA programme at the Nagoya City Inae Sports Centre.