By Caoilte de Barra
The MMA India National Federation organised a Seminar on Anti-Doping in collaboration with the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) on the 10th of August. The National Federation’s President, Sharif Bapu and Secretary-General, Prasad Gaitonde hosted the free webinar for registered members.
Dr Ankush Gupta, who is a resource person and an officer with the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs New Delhi conducted the session to almost 70 people in total. The attendance included a range of persons within the Nation Federation including board members, coaches/instructors and athletes.
The overall seminar lasted for one hour in total and was followed by a 20 minute, questions and answer session. Bapu was very happy with the session and deemed it a success.
“The NADA Officer was quite impressed with our team members as they asked many questions about TUE & use of CBD Oil by the Athletes before the bouts,” said Bapu. “Thanks to IMMAF, we have more than 300+ people who have been Certified by ADEL WADA recently.”
He also gave a special mention to the appointed anti-doping officer for his role in the organisation of the event.
“I would like to add that one of our team members Kevin Alfred David whom we have appointed as the Anti-Doping Coordinator did a marvellous job in organizing the Webinar. At the end of the day, it is teamwork which counts.”
In the days following the seminar the Federation held a National MMA Referee and Judge Certification seminar at the UFC Gym in Mumbai to help further the development of the sport in India.
Not only have MMA India been assisting their members in developing their members’ knowledge in Anti Doping and providing upskilling with the offering of certification courses. They have also been progressing with their coaching education and grading system; in accordance with the IMMAF Grading Pathway.
President, Sharif Bapu is a black belt under the grading system and they have more than eleven seniors who have been certified to a brown belt. Over fifty have been awarded blue belts and more than 500 students have signed up for colour belts recently.
Bapu explained how it has been great to see everything opening back up and members signing up to the grading system following a tough lockdown they have faced since April. They can now push on and strive to meet their goal of the MMA India Nation Federation being the number one in the world and for more than 1000 students completing their grading according to the IMMAF syllabus this year. He concluded by giving thanks to members of IMMAF who have given their support to MMA India.
“Thanks to Sir Kerrith Brown & Sir Densign White for all the support they rendered to us. Special thanks to Sir Andrew Moshanov, without whom the grading system would have been a dream only but he helped us to fulfil this into a reality.”
The next step for the federation is the India Open Amateur Championship in September. This will take place in Indore City, Madhya Pradesh. The competition will determine who will be selected for the upcoming IMMAF World Championship in Kazakhstan.
