First Indian woman to defeat a male in Mixed Martial Arts in a cage fight

Dr Komal fighting with Nikes Agarwal from Guardian Gym Germany  

at the Mixed Martial Arts Fight took place in Germany. 

This woman knocks out a man in one punch and slams him to the ground in one throw. Meet 35-year-old Dr Komal Rao, who has defeated a male opponent in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) in a cage fight took place in YBN Germany in July 2017. With this, She has become the first woman in the world to defeat a male opponent in MMA.

Dr Komal, is the adopted daughter of Dr Seema Rao, India's first woman commando Trainer and Major Dr Deepak Rao, a Pioneer of Close Quarter Battle. Residents of Mumbai, the family had recently visited Mysuru and here are the excerpts from the interview:

Dr Komal began learning Jeet Kune Do (JKD), an form of martial arts from the tender age of 15. Today, she is one among the five female instructors in the world to get certified as a full instructor in Jeet Kune Do (JKD) by Richard Bustillo, an direct student of Bruce Lee. After her mother Dr Seema Rao, she is the second in the country to get certified.

Dr Komal has done her advanced training in JKD, under grand master Richard Bustillo. She runs a Mixed Martial Arts Fight Club 'Academy of Combat Fitness’ and conducts regular workshops and teaches Jeet Kune Do in Mumbai. She is also serving as an Deputy Director of an NGO Unarmed Commando Combat Academy. 

After undergoing training for 20 long years, she became a pro MMA fighter with her debut fight in Young Blood Night 9 and was slotted to fight Elke Beinwachs on June 2, 2017 in the 52 kg category. However, when Elke did not turn up for the fight, she agreed to fight Nikes Agarwal from Guardian Gym Germany in the 60kg category.




Dr Komal who won by submission in the second round using a rear naked choke, said: ‘I am the only Indian woman to have fought a male in an MMA cage fight. I have been ranked 22nd in the Pro MMA Women fighter in Germany and I feel proud about it. My next fight will be around next April at a pre-decided destination in Europe,  perhaps Poland  or maybe in Brazil.’

Sharing her experience before and after fight, she said: “Before the fight there was a lot of excitement and anticipation and little bit of apprehension. After the fight there was elation and a sense of accomplishment.”

Komal, a soft nature girl, spent her childhood with illness and poor constitution. To become strong physically and mentally, she decided to learn Jeet Kune Do under the guidance of her parents. She says: ‘I Am 35 and going strong. I run 5 kilo meters twice a week, and go to gum, and fight professionally in a mixed martial art cage.’

When questioned about what is required for a woman fight in a cage, she said: ‘A woman has to fight in a particular weight category. She has to shed her fatty weight to about 10 per cent of total.  She has to be extremely fit to last 15to 25 minutes inside the cage. For this she has to train for 5km run, lift weights, do cross training besides skill training. She has to train in boxing, muay thai,  grappling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. She should be very fit, flexible and condition every part of her body to take hits.’






Are women interested to learn MMA: “‘In our country good training facility do not exist and women generally do not want to take up hard core sport, as grievous injury like black eye, nose burst, and internal bleeds occur.” 


Talking about craze among people about MMA, she said: ‘Mixed martial arts is a world wide sport, however the first time Super Fight League (SFL) hosted it in India under patronage of Sanjay Dutt many years ago. Now almost every other youngster is aware of it, but there are hardly any women participants from India.’

Komal is the owner of India's No 1 Fight Club academy of Combat Fitness and also dealing with defence forces in modernisation of counter terror training. She is also Director of All India JKD Headquarters, Pro MMA Fighter. She has also acted in the movie Hathapayi an Indian MMA movie with name 'Kayra'.  She says: ‘As an MMA coach, my students have won medals at World Mixed Martial Arts Championship in Russia this year and am happy about it. The response to my JKD academy is very good, with good number of metro students joining  every month,  but generally they join for fitness and Bruce Lee's philosophy.’

Father Major Dr Deepak Rao said: ‘Komal was very weak,  thin and skinny in constitution, frail in health and timid in personality. Now after MMA she is strong confident and a woman of substance. She is one among the few women in the world to have fought a male in the pro MMA event. she is a fifth degree black belt under UCCA organisation and conducts seminars, workshop on JDK Philosophy.  We are proud of her as she is the first from country to defeat a male in a cage fight.'

Talking about her fight Mother Dr Seema Rao said: ‘Komal fought a male opponent heavier than her by 10kgs. The first round witnessed both opponents fighting each other with strikes,  with Komal being cautious and sizing the opponent.  In the second round Komal had understood her opponents weakness.  As he charged in she slipped her hand around his neck and choked him using a guillotine lock. The opponent started fading into unconsciousness and tapped just in time.  And a tap on the mat indicates submission and surrender. This occurred within 2 minutes of the second round.
 

Highlights
* Mixed Martial Arts is a sport where participants fight in a cage using kicking,  punching,  wrestling and ground attacks. MMA is a cold blooded brutal sport where victory is by knockout or submission due to cranking (twisting) of a joint or by locking the neck to unconsciousness.
* Jeet Kune Do (JKD) is an American Chinese  martial art founded by Bruce Lee along with philosophy of Zen and Taoism. This was the first mixed martial art of the world.
It is one of the most sought martial art in the world.  Its made of punching,  kicking,  grappling and ground fighting.  And in essence the first hybrid martial art.  Its very popular among adult metro men and women as it helps them in fitness and stress management.
* A cage fight is a fight inside a cage,  with 3 to 5 rounds of 5mins each with very thin lightly padded gloves where each strike will cause a cut and bleed. Two participants  are locked in a cage with refree and can't escape even if they want to. Victory is by submission  or Knock out.

Below is video link of her fight
https://youtu.be/5aUo0iHEFK8

Shooting stars: Teaching archery for visually challenged

A team member from Solanki’s camp teaching archery to a visually challenged man

MYSURU:  One by one, they stand in position, listen intently to the sound of bell, walk a few steps and shoot the arrow. Some of the archers squeal in delight when they are told they’ve hit the bull’s eye. Some want to go to the target board and feel the circle. A

DSD Solanki

nd when they do, this group of visually challenged archers senses a triumph of belief. It’s a belief instilled by DSD Solanki, the man behind this innovative project.

Having been in the field of adventure sports since his childhood, the 44-year-old has conducted more than a 100 archery camps. He began the camps as a recreational tool for youngsters. One day he thought if ordinary people with no skills in archery could wield the arrow and even excel in it, why not involve the visually challenged too. This motivated him to impart archery training for the visually challenged. Solanki discussed the idea with people working for the visually challenged and chalked out the techniques of teaching them archery. 

To his surprise, he found that the lack of sight wasn’t a big barrier for them as the visually challenged equipped themselves with skills that overcame this perceived handicap. “I found it was more interesting and easier to teach them to hone their skills in archery. They don’t have vision but their other sensory organs are strong and they concentrate better than those with sight,” he says. The group of visually challenged archers have it all in their mental map: the bow, arrow, position, sound of bell, wind speed, flags, rope and target.

The sound of the bell and the arrow is let off in perfect synchronicity. Going down the memory lane, Solanki recalls, “When I used to go on expeditions, it is mandatory that we keep the trekkers or mountaineers engaged in some activities. When we went to Chandertal expedition in Himachal Pradesh in 2005, we took the bow and arrow and explored the possibilities. It worked out better and since then we have kept it as recreational activity in our programmes.”

For the past couple of years he has been conducting competitions for orphans, visually challenged and destitute children in Mysuru, Bengaluru and Hassan. “We have been receiving good response,” says Solanki, whose repertory in adventure sports includes trekking, parasailing, gliding, skydiving, flying, rock climbing, kayaking, rafting, scuba diving. Solanki says the constant support from Rotary Mysore Midtown and Muniraju, a retired employee of the National Association of Blind, has helped him and his team impart the skills. The concentration, observations and passion of the blind are worth appreciating, he says. “We had lot of fun during the camp.

Though it was a unique experience, we wondered how we could hit the target without seeing. But Solanki sir motivated us describing how the champions go blindfolded and set records. This infused confidence in us and we took part in the archery camp,” adds Raghavendra, a visually challenged person. “My happiness knew no bounds when I hit the blue target. The camp was a different experience altogether and I can’t thank Solanki sir enough for giving us this opportunity,” says Soundarya.

Solanki, who is also honorary secretary for Tiger Adventure Foundation, visits various schools, colleges and teaches the young about archery, sometimes involving the parents too so that awareness about archery is created among public. Solanki and his team sources the bows from Korea, while the bamboo arrows are procured from Delhi. “Our aim is to expose them to archery. Whether the children want to take it up as a competitive sport is left to them,” he says. Lohit, an archer, says the experience has been worthwhile for the trainers too. Dr LP Ravi Kumar, Principal, Harvard School of Excellence, Hassan, says exposing the students to such activity helps them deal better with the challenges ahead.

Know how they aim the target  

At first, the visually challenged will be familiarised with the ground, where they are going to be roped in for the activity. Later, they will be briefed about the Archery and will be given to touch and feel the equipment like bow, arrow, bell.

They will be explained about the salient features for the target of the scores, and about target in white colour, Blue Colour, Yellow and Red circles. In final, distance will be measured from the bull’s eye to the shooting spot, which helps them to hit the target easily. 

Blind Manjula said: ‘A bell will be hanged to the target board. Standing in shooting place we concentrate on the bell sound from which direction it is coming.  As we take step count prior to the shooting, it helps to aim the target. Though we miss few targets in beginning, we get an idea about the speed, and where we should aim. The programme organizers navigate to hit the target, which are helpful.’

 

‘We had lot of fun during the camp. Though it was a unique experience, we were feared how we can target without vision. Solanki motivated us informing how normal people go blind folded to set records, which infused self confidence and made us to take part in the archery camp,’ adds Raghavendra, another visually challenged person.

‘Participating in archery camps gives a different experience. By keenly observing the bell sounds we can easily reach the aim. We thank Solanki for conducting camps for visually challenged and the way he teaches is easily understandable. There was no bound for my happiness when I hit the blue circle. I touched the spot where my arrow had hit. It was a first time in the life we experience how archery will be, and no hopes in future we get an opportunity as the financial obligations is a big question mark,’ adds Soundarya, sharing her experience.   

Initially when we were aiming at the target it used to get deviated. We realized that if we aim at the outer circle then we hit the target, which is called the wind/velocity also has to be analyzed while aiming, adds Jyothi.