Manesha Ali wins IMMAF World Cup gold in Angola — Dawn
Pakistani athlete Manesha Ali defeated Angola’s Leonela Isabel Blae and won the gold medal at the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) World Cup in Luanda, Angola. Dawn reports, citing the Pakistan MMA Federation.
Second-round victory
Ali finished the bout in the second round with a submission, forcing her opponent to tap out. With 30 seconds remaining in the round, Blae launched an attack with a series of strikes, after which the Pakistani fighter applied a standing guillotine choke. The fight ended 15 seconds before the end of the second round.
Manesha Ali trains at the Brave Gym club in Lahore and is from Gilgit-Baltistan. After her victory was announced, the athlete dropped to her knees, while her sister Maleeha supported her from the stands.
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Upcoming competitions
Fifteen leading teams from different countries took part in the IMMAF World Cup, representing amateur mixed martial arts athletes.
Ali’s next event will be the Pakistan Open. After that, she will compete at the IMMAF World Championship in Georgia, which starts on November 1. The athlete said she aims to become an IMMAF world champion and the first Pakistani female fighter to compete in the UFC.
Pakistan MMA Federation head Omar Ahmed said that athletes’ international success gives meaning to the federation’s work despite regulatory and administrative difficulties and other obstacles to the development of the sport in the country.
