Day 3 of the 2022 Asian Championships is finished, and tomorrow’s gold medal match-ups are confirmed. The action got underway at 11 am local time, with the semi-finals taking place for the senior and junior divisions.
Kazakhstan’s Yerulan Kabdulov booked his place in tomorrow’s final after finishing India’s Shabarish Ayyanar in the third round. Kabdulov has six IMMAF medals to date and has the opportunity to win gold for the first time tomorrow when he faces Tajikistan’s Isrofil Komilzoda.
The senior welterweight division saw the highly anticipated rematch between Bahrain’s Ramazan Gitinov and Tajikistan’s Jovidon Mahmudov. The pound-for-pound number one came out with a decision win but not without some difficulties. His opponent for the final will be Kazakhstan’s Doszhan Kenzhebayev after he edged a close against Uzbekistan’s Munis Muminjonov.
2021 World gold medalists Rasul Magomedov and Aieza Ramos made their first appearances in the tournaments. Magomedov displayed dominant wrestling to outpoint his opponent, while Ramos won via a first-round finish.
In the junior flyweight division, Otgonbaatar Boldbaatar secured his spot in the final after an impressive guillotine choke victory over Kazakhstan’s Onggar Smagul. The win means we will see a Mongolian athlete feature in an IMMAF final for the first time.
Lebanon’s Charbel Farah continued his incredible run of form, picking up his third win in as many days, defeating Bahrain’s Ali Marhoon. Only Uzbekistan’s Shakhriyorbek Mamatkulov stands in his way of junior welterweight gold.
It was mixed results for Jordan as Zaki Kayyali dropped a very close split decision. However, Hazaem Kayyali lined up a senior middleweight final match against Bahrain’s Sultan Omarov after dominating Tajikistan’s Halid Tolibzoda over three rounds.
Tajikistan’s Otabek Rajabov had a solid start to the competition defeating Kazakhstan’s Chingis Idrissov in the junior bantamweight division. He will meet fellow countryman Lutfullo Sohibnazarov in the final tomorrow.
In the junior light heavyweight division, Uzbekistan’s Musin Muminjonov looked sensational as he finished Tajikistan’s Biloliddin Nimatov midway through the second round. He is one of eight Uzbekistan athletes set to compete in the finals.
His teammate, Asrorbek Anvarjonov, set an Asian Championships record for fastest finish after getting Tajikistan’s Qawidil Muhammad Feroz out of there in fourteen seconds.
The semi-finals saw the senior super heavyweight division come into play, and they did not disappoint. Kazakhstan’s Rassul Khatayev scored a submission over Tajikistan’s Abdubashir Bafoev in forty seconds. On the opposite side of the bracket, Tajikistan’s Shokhrukh Fatoev finished Uzbekistan’s Shukhrat Shukurullaev via TKO in twenty-one seconds.
Tomorrow’s finals will see seventeen Tajikistan athletes competing for gold medals, the most finalists of any team. Two-time World gold medalist Sabrina De Sousa will make her highly anticipated return as she looks to extend her undefeated streak against Kazakhstan’s Mulder Ashirbekova.
A complete list of today’s results can be found here.
Tomorrow sees the finals take place, with the bouts starting at 11 am. The full schedule for the final day of the 2022 Asian Championships can be found here. Live brackets can be found on Smoothcomp.
The International Mixed Martial Arts Federation will be live streaming its 2022 Asian Championships live and on-demand at immaf.tv, from 27 – 30 October, from 11:00 hrs (UTC+5). All matches from across 4 full days of elite amateur MMA action will be available worldwide from $9.99 for the Championships Pass.
