24 | Monday, November 18, 2019 CHINA DAILY SPORTS

MARTIAL ARTS ASIAD Hangzhou ‘Indian Tigress’ roars into spotlight gets its Wrestler Ritu Phogat proves a surprise hit with impressive MMA debut in Beijing Games By SUN XIAOCHEN [email protected]

Indian wrestler Ritu Phogat stole face on the show at One Championship’s return to Beijing on Saturday with a ruthless performance in her debut By MA ZHENHUAN in Hangzhou for the mixed martial arts [email protected] promotion. Despite varied results for the local Preparations for the 2022 Asian favorites at the show, ‘Age of Drga­ Games in Hangzhou are already in ons’, One Championship’s third event full swing, according to a top local in the capital since 2014, proved a official. huge hit at Wukesong Arena, where Chen Weiqiang, deputy secretary­ 13,000 spectators oohed and aahed general of the Games’ organizing at every punch, kick and knockdown committee and vice­mayor of the on the 11­bout card, which included city, told China Daily in an exclusive two world­title fights. interview that next year Hangzhou Chinese kickboxer Wang Wen­ will work on improving the interiors feng failed to wrest the world fly­ of the venues, launch the torch weight belt off defending champion design and define the main frame­ Ilias Ennahachi after losing a five­ work for the opening ceremony. round nail­biter to the Dutch­Mo­ Dec 15 marks the 1,000­day count­ roccan striker by split decision, down for the Asiad, and Chen said while Meng Bo gave the home fans the organizing committee is dedi­ something to cheer when she cated to enhancing local residents’ knocked out Argentine veteran enthusiasm for the Games by posi­ Laura Balin at 2:18 in the first tioning countdown clocks at land­ round of her One Championship marks in Hangzhou and other atomweight debut. major cities in Zhejiang province, To the surprise of organizers, such as Ningbo, Jinhua and however, the highlight of the night Shaoxing. proved to be Indian wrestling sen­ Meanwhile, organizers have sation Phogat’s maiden MMA fight, teamed up with the Hangzhou­ against South Korea’s “Captain based China Academy of Art to Marvel”, Kim Nam­hee. Ritu Phogat, aka The Indian Tigress, shows no mercy in her One Championship victory over South Korea’s Kim Nam­hee at Wukesong launch a research center that facili­ The “Indian Tigress” took just Arena in Beijing on Saturday night. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY tates the design of artistic works for three minutes and 37 seconds to the Games, with a special focus on dispatch Kim in the atomweight consultation, standard formulation bout with a powerful ground­and­ silver medal at the 2017 World MMA, my grappling skills are a “I believe sooner or later, the belt Bloomage International Invest­ and quality control. pound attack that sent the capacity Under­23 Wrestling World Cham­ benefit. Takedown is very easy for will be mine,” said Meng after her ment Group. Both parties plan to “The Hangzhou Asian Games go crowd to their feet. pionships in Poland. Her ambition, me. I just do the same thing — I take TKO victory against Balin. “I don’t stage more combat sports events in far beyond a mere sports event for Already known in China for though, reaches much further than (opponents) down and I strike,” want to rush it though. I will take China as part of the deal. Asia, but rather they are a platform being depicted in hit movie Dangal that milestone. said Phogat, who won gold at the one firm step at a time.” Covering the full spectrum of for cultural and artistic exchanges — a sports biopic about her famous The 25­year­old, who he is being 2016 Commonwealth Wrestling In Saturday’s co­main event, martial arts, including Muay Thai, around the globe,” Chen said. wrestling family — Phogat said she tipped to represent India at the Championship in Singapore. Ukrainian giant Roman Kryklia kickboxing, karate and taekwondo, Hangzhou won the bid to host the was more proud to have shown the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, shocked Sharing the spotlight with Pho­ defeated another Dutch­Moroccan One is on mission to promote Asian Asian Games in September 2015, nation her combat skills than her the wrestling world by signing up gat as a victorious One Champion­ power puncher, Tarik Khbabez, via martial artists around the world, becoming the third city in China to film connection. with One to switch her focus to the ship debutant, Meng has also set a second­round TKO to avenge an having opened two offices in China host the quadrennial continental “The movie was just a brief intro­ brutal and challenging realm of her sights on a world­title shot. earlier loss and become the inaugu­ (Beijing and Shanghai) and staged event, after Beijing in 1990 and duction to my family,” Phogat told MMA. The two­time Chinese national ral One light­heavyweight kickbox­ nine events on the Chinese main­ Guangzhou, the capital of Guang­ China Daily through an interpreter “My goal is to win an MMA world MMA champion, who missed two ing world champion. land in total. dong province, in 2010. after the fight. “Through MMA and title in two years,” she said. earlier opportunities to make her China’s Miao Litao lost his straw­ “One Championship remains In September, karate, sport climb­ tonight’s performance I want to Currently honing her craft at One debut due to injuries, said she weight clash against Filipino strik­ dedicated to delivering Chinese ing and baseball/softball were add­ build my own identity as a competi­ Singapore’s world­renowned can’t wait to launch her challenge er Jeremy Miado in the opening martial arts fans the very best in ed to the list of 37 sports already tive MMA athlete. This was the first Evolve gym, Phogat considers her for the women’s atomweight gold­ bout of the night after being sports entertainment,” said the approved for the Games, taking the step in that direction.” wrestling background as an advan­ en belt, which is currently held by knocked out by a flying knee at 3:01 promotion’s president, Teh Hua total number of competition events Guided by her father, Mahavir tage in MMA, but realizes she needs Angela Lee of Singapore. in the first round. Fung. to 40. Singh Phogat, a renowned wres­ to bring her striking and submis­ As a tuneup, Meng has a prefer­ Earlier in the day, One Champi­ “Showcasing our elite Chinese The 19th edition of the Asiad will tling coach in India, since she was 8, sion skills up to par to become the ence for facing Japanese icon and onship announced a strategic part­ One Championship athletes and take place from Sept 10­25, 2022, Phogat defied prejudice in her complete package. two­time world­title challenger Mei nership with the owner of giving them the global platform to and for the first time will feature native country to win India’s first “For me as a wrestler making it to Yamaguchi. Wukesong Arena, the Beijing­based shine is our goal.” athletes from Oceania.

Digest TENNIS

SOCCER amount. Garrett must meet with Outgoing ATP Italian coach fired for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell Federer reckons changing of chief reflects on before his reinstatement is consid­ overseeing 27­0 rout ered. ‘miracle’ tenure The coach of an Italian junior “I made a terrible mistake,” Gar­ league team was fired on Saturday rett said in a statement on Friday. the guard may be imminent LONDON — Departing ATP for inflicting a humiliating 27­0 “I lost my cool and what I did was chief Chris Kermode describes his defeat on an opponent. selfish and unacceptable. longevity in the role as “a miracle”, Paolo Brogelli, president of “I know that we are all responsi­ LONDON — After dominating such has been the delicate balan­ Invictasauro, a club based in Gros­ ble for our actions and I can only the tennis world for so long, Roger cing act of keeping both players seto, Tuscany, slammed his team’s prove my true character through Federer thinks the sport’s Big Three and tournament owners happy. win over rival Marina Calcio as my actions moving forward. I could face their toughest challenge The 55­year­old Briton is look­ “disrespectful”. want to apologize to Mason yet from a new generation in 2020. ing forward to a well­earned holi­ “We learned with amazement Rudolph, my teammates, our Federer’s 2019 season ended with day in January once his tenure and regret the score of the match entire organization, our fans and a semifinal loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas ends and predicts new ATP chair­ in which our junior team scored 27 to the NFL.” on Saturday at the ATP Finals, hav­ man Andrea Gaudenzi will not find goals,” Brogelli said in a statement ing seen Novak Djokovic and Rafael the task an easy one. quoted by Italian media. ATHLETICS Nadal eliminated in the group stage Kermode was effectively ousted “The values of youth­team foot­ Bolt launches his of the tournament this week. in March when he surprisingly fail­ ball are antithetical to such a Tsitsipas, a 21­year­old Greek who ed to receive majority support of thing. e­scooter in Japan is playing at the ATP Finals for the the three players’ representatives “The opponent must always be Nine­time Olympic gold medal­ first time, is among a handful of on the ATP board despite the fact respected and today it has not ist Usain Bolt is bringing his elec­ up­and­coming talents looking to he has overseen steep rises in happened. As president, I sincerely tric scooters to Japan, hopeful that finally end the unprecedented era of prize money. apologize to the Marina team. Our his celebrity status will help per­ dominance by that trio. Other At the ATP Finals, an event Ker­ board has decided, unanimously, suade regulators that the environ­ youngsters at the season­ending mode has turned into a huge to fire Mr. Riccini. mental benefits are important tournament include 22­year­old Roger Federer reacts during his defeat to Stefanos Tsitsipas at the money­spinner, he said his great­ “Our coaches have a duty to enough to relax some of the curbs defending champion Alexander ATP World Tour Finals in London on Saturday. AP est achievement had been to get a train and, above all, to educate on their use. Zverev and 23­year­old US Open second three­year term. children. This has not happened Under current laws, scooters can runner­up Daniil Medvedev. “I arrived in a very toxic prize­ today.” only be driven on roads, they need However, it’s not the first time Since 2004, the only other person to against Tsitsipas, losing 6­3, 6­4. money negotiation between play­ to carry license plates, and riders that the 38­year­old Federer has finish the year atop the rankings As long as he stays healthy, ers and promoters,” said AMERICAN FOOTBALL require a motorcycle license. faced talk about a talented crop of was Andy Murray in 2016. though, Federer is confident he’s Kermode, whose brainchild the Garrett suspended The Jamaican world­record youngsters, even though none of In addition, the Big Three have still good enough to compete for ATP Cup will debut in January. over helmet strike sprinter and co­founder of Bolt them have so far been able to break won the last 12 Grand Slam titles more majors next season. “I voted the biggest single Mobility announced the launch at the Big Three’s iron grip on the between them. And until one of the “I’ve got to keep on playing at the increase for players in the history The NFL has suspended Myles an event in a Tokyo restaurant on sport. youngsters ends that streak, any talk level I have this year, and then I will of the tour. So obviously I wasn’t Garrett for at least the rest of the Friday. The initial goal is to limit “It’s the same question every year of a generation shift is premature. create some chances,” he said. “Then the tournaments’ favorite person regular season after the Cleveland its scooter rentals to private land, at the end of the year,” Federer said “Definitely it’s that next step they when the matches come, it’s not for quite a while after that. Browns defensive end swung an which is exempt from traffic regu­ about the new generation. “But does need,” Federer said. “The only issue maybe as easy as it was maybe 10, 15 “That’s why it’s a miracle I got a opponent’s helmet and used it “as lations, and to be operating on 40 it feel like this year might be the best is that it seems like me, Novak, and years ago where you’re just going to second term.” a weapon” by striking Pittsburgh university campuses by the end of year yet? Possibly. But then I look at Rafa are healthy, healthier than play very good, day in, day out. Kermode says he has not been quarterback Mason Rudolph in 2020. the list of who finished world number maybe in previous years, as well.” “Opportunities were there today afraid to “ruffle feathers” during the head. “We’re still talking and trying to one, who has been world number one The third­ranked Federer ends ... they were there in other moments his time as executive chairman and The violent outburst in Thurs­ figure out how to push forward all these years, and it’s just crazy that the year with four ATP titles, but as well this season, maybe Indian president. While he has proved day’s game against the Steelers and do better things for the envi­ it’s always one of us. But we are not failed to add to his record haul of 20 Wells or Wimbledon or whatever. himself a great innovator, he resulted in the longest suspension ronment, because that’s where it getting any younger. So chances Grand Slams when he lost an epic That can change an entire season believes the current structure of for a single on­field infraction in started,” the 33­year­old Bolt said increase not because we are getting Wimbledon final to Djokovic, around, the confidence around, the the ATP board should remain and league history. in an interview with Reuters fol­ worse but because they are getting despite holding two match points in flow of things. But I’m happy how I believes an American­style players’ Tennessee’s Albert Haynesworth lowing the event. “This is the better.” the fifth set. played this season, and I’m extreme­ union, thought to be favored by was suspended five games in 2006. future.” Nadal clinched his fifth year­end He also fell short of a record­ex­ ly excited for next season.” Novak Djokovic, is a bad idea. The league’s No 1 overall pick in No 1 title this week, putting him lev­ tending seventh ATP Finals title after REUTERS 2017 was also fined an undisclosed XINHUA — AGENCIES el with both Federer and Djokovic. converting just one of 12 break points ASSOCIATED PRESS