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| - Fact Check: This video DOES NOT show Indian martial artist Puja Tomar becoming 'World Champion'
AFWA found that the video is from 2019 and shows Tomar's victory during a ONE Championship event in Jakarta, Indonesia.
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India Today Fact Check
This video is almost four years old and is from a One Championship event in Jakarta. Tomar recently won against Bi Nyugen at the Matrix Fight Night Martial Arts competition held in the UAE. But she did not become the ‘World Champion’.
A video that has been making the rounds on social media recently shows two women and a male referee standing in a cage ring that is often used for mixed martial arts or MMA. As an announcer calls “Puja Tomar” the winner, one of the women jumps in celebration. Those sharing this video congratulated Tomar for becoming the “World Champion in Martial Arts”.
Tomar is a National Wushu Champion and has represented India in the Wushu World Championship. Wushu is a full-contact sport derived from traditional Chinese martial arts.
AFWA found that the video is from 2019 and shows Tomar’s victory during a ONE Championship event in Jakarta, Indonesia.
AFWA PROBE
When we searched for news of Tomar being crowned “World Champion in Martial Arts” on Google, we found news reports about her victory over Bi Nguyen of the US in the Strawweight Title fight at the Matrix Fight Night Martial Arts competition held in the UAE on November 18. Tomar shared this news on her official Instagram page as well.
We found a video of the match uploaded to YouTube by an unofficial account. When we compared the victory announcement in this video with the viral one, we realised they were not the same.
Subsequently, we reverse-searched keyframes from the viral video. This led us to a 20-minute-long video uploaded to the Official Youtube Channel of ONE Championship on January 21, 2019. It was a match between Tomar and Indonesian martial artist Priscilla Hertati Lumban Gaol. The match took place at the Istora Senayan Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia. Per the video’s description, “In the end, two of the three judges saw the bout in the Indian star’s favour, giving Tomar her first win on the global stage.”
In this video, at the 19.34-minute mark, one can see Tomar jumping with joy after being crowned the winner. This was the same scene that we saw in the viral video. This made it clear that the video being shared online right now is almost four years old.
Did Tomar become the ‘World Champion in Martial Arts’?
Tomar, who hails from Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar, has not yet won the World Championship in Martial Arts, as claimed by a number of people on social media. The last International Mixed Martial Arts Federation World Championship was held in January this year in the UAE, and the only Indian participant who won bronze medal in the event was Vridhi Kumari.
The World Wushu Championship is an international tournament for wushu and sanda (Chinese kickboxing). The WWC has been held once every two years since its inception in 1991. The last Championship was held in 2019 in Shanghai, China. However, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the event has not taken place since. It is next scheduled to happen in 2023 in the US. While India won two golds, one silver, and one bronze at the WWC in 2019, Tomar was not among the winners there.
Thus, it is clear that the video being shared widely online does not show Tomar becoming the World Champion of Martial Arts. In fact, the video is almost four years old.
(Written by Ashish Kumar)
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