Suchika Tariyal won a historic MMA bronze for India at the Asian Games on Monday despite going down in the women’s traditional -60kg semi-final against Singapore’s Hui Hoon Teo. The bout ended in heartbreak for the 36-year-old, who was left in tears after learning she would not advance to the gold medal match. Drama unfolded in the minutes before the eventual winner was declared, as Suchika refused to approach the officials, seemingly unhappy with the impending verdict.
Once Suchika went up to the official at her coach’s request, the referee raised the Singaporean opponent’s hand, declaring her the winner. The Indian camp then challenged the decision, only to have its appeal rejected on a technicality. During the challenge, the Indian camp was informed that the contest had ended in a draw, but Hui Hoon advanced to the gold-medal match on the basis of her morning weight.
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“After the Indian challenge, the result of the bout was declared a draw. The winner was then decided on the basis of the weights of competing athletes according to the morning weigh-in,” MMA Sports Federation president Nikhil Kunde told PTI.
“Since the Singaporean was lighter than Suchika by around 700 grams, she moved to the final. Suchika settled for bronze,” he added.
What are the rules?
Pre-competition weigh-ins are standard in combat sports, and each athlete is weighed on the morning of the competition. Every athlete has to weigh in every morning two hours before the bout, which is conducted by multiple referees. The athletes have the right to use official scales for trial weigh-ins within one hour before the pre-competition weigh-in. The competitors who exceed their respective weight categories or do not participate in the weigh-ins are disqualified from the competition.
These weigh-ins are crucial, as they can ultimately decide the winner in a drawn contest, as was the case in Suchika’s semi-final. If the overtime ends in a draw, the athlete who has not received any warnings wins. However, if neither opponent receives a warning, or both have the same number of warnings, the athlete with the lighter body weight at the start of the day’s competition is declared the winner.
It was on this basis that Suchika missed out on a place in the final, as her morning weigh-in was 700 grams heavier than her opponent’s. Had their morning weigh-ins been identical, the deciding factor would have been their body weight after the match. If that had been identical as well, the final call would have been made based on the flag-raising decision of three side referees. The athlete who received the same flag from at least two of the three side referees would have been declared the winner.