Athletes from Canada, Finland and India have joined the list of contenders set to challenge at the 2020 IMMAF Oceania Open in March, joining standouts from the UK, Bahrain and host nation Australia.
The event will also welcome the first appearance of a French Polynesia national team and will feature five athletes making their international debuts following last week’s announcement confirming the region as an IMMAF member. French Polynesia has become the first French territory to supervise the practice of MMA and Amateur MMA under a government mandate.
Canada’s’ Justin Grey continues his travels, entering the men’s featherweight division as a veteran of the 2018 IMMAF World Championships and 2019 Pan-American Open. Similarly, India’s Vaibhav Vaman Shetty enters the middleweight bracket as a veteran of the 2019 World Championships and Asian Open. At age 34, Shetty is among the oldest contenders at the international amateur level.
In the men’s bantamweight division, 18-year-old Max Hynninen (main picture) seeks his first win on the IMMAF platform following his international debut at the 2019 Junior World Championships where he was handed a unanimous decision loss at the hands of two-time world champion Muhammad Mokaev. Nevertheless, three rounds of experience against the world’s foremost amateur contender presents a unique opportunity to learn and Hynninen will look to demonstrate his progression at the first continental Open of 2020.
The challenge is steep as some of the world’s most prominent and dominant amateur MMA standouts such as Muhammad Mokaev, Murtaza Talha Ali and Ramazan Gitinov setting their sights on the Oceania Open and a clean sweep of the year to come. Read more HERE.
The 2020 IMMAF events calendar begins with the Oceania Open Championships taking place from 6 – 8 March at Australia’s Gold Coast Recreation Centre on Palm Beach. Athlete registration closes on Jan. 24.
By IMMAF.org lead writer: Jorden Curran
