After a stalemate in the explosive 3 vs. 3 team fight between the archrivals at the Karate Combat 45 in Dubai, UAE, on Saturday, Pakistan captain Shahzaib Rindh defeated India captain Rana Singh to win the last round.
Karate Combat 45: Shahzaib Rindh defeats Rana Singh to win for Pakistan
Rizwan Ali of Pakistan and Himanshu Kaushik of India won the first and second matches, respectively, to settle the high-tension encounter in the penultimate round. Rizwan Ali of Pakistan faced Pawan Gupta of India in the opening round. After Rizwan knocked Gupta out in the first round, the Pakistani easily defeated him.
Indian Himanshu Kaushik faced Pakistan’s Faizan Khan in the second round after Pakistan led 1-0. Had Pakistan won, they would have won the match, but Kaushik defeated Faizan, who replaced Uloomi Karim when he missed his weight by five kg.
When the score was 1-1, Pakistan’s captain Shahzaib Rindh faced India’s Rana Singh in the last round. Rindh won the bout via technical knockout after his early strikes cornered his opponent.
Rindh raised Pakistani and Indian flags in the ring after the bout to signify peace. This fight was for peace. “We are together, not enemies,” Rindh stated after the contest. He also improved to 5-0 in Karate Combat. In February, he recorded the fastest knockout in Karate Combat 44 in Mexico City. Marco Cubas of Peru was knocked out in 21 seconds by the 25-year-old in the first round. Rindh slapped Rana at a Friday press conference. The incident video went popular on social media.
“How was the slap bro?” Rindh stated after the stage fight.
