Singapore MMA fighter Tiffany Teo wins historic Asian Games gold - CNA
This is Singapore’s first gold of the 20th Asian Games.
Singapore’s mixed martial arts fighter Tiffany Teo celebrates after winning gold after the women’s traditional 60kg final at the Asian Games at Nagoya City Inae Sports Center, Japan, on Sep 22, 2026. (Photo: Singapore National Olympic Council/ Lim Weixiang)
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Matthew Mohan 22 Sep 2026 03:35PM (Updated: 22 Sep 2026 09:23PM) Bookmark Bookmark Share WhatsApp Telegram Facebook Twitter Email LinkedIn Set CNA as your preferred source on Google Add CNA as a trusted source to help Google better understand and surface our content in search results. Read a summary of this article on FAST. Get bite-sized news via a newcards interface. Give it a try. Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST FAST TOKYO: More than just a gold medal, the 265g piece of metal which mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Tiffany Teo had fought her heart out for represented the culmination of a journey.
"I feel like this entire journey kind of led up to this moment. It's not just the past couple of months of fight camp, it (was) the hours people didn't see when I started, when I was a total beginner," she told reporters.
"Coming into this Asian Games, I felt like I deserved to be here and I definitely deserved the gold medal."
On Tuesday (Sep 22), Teo beat Uzbekistan's Khilola Sobirova in the women's traditional 60kg final at the Nagoya City Inae Sports Center to clinch Singapore’s first gold of the 20th Asian Games. After both athletes were adjudged to have won one round each, the Singaporean took victory in an extra overtime round.
CNA Games Guess Word Crack the word, one row at a time Buzzword Create words using the given letters Mini Sudoku Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser Mini Crossword Small grid, big challenge Word Search Spot as many words as you can Show More Show Less "I was so overwhelmed when I won the fight," she said. "I just started crying; it was just tears of joy."
Teo had competed against Sobirova at the Asian Mixed Martial Arts Championship in May, falling to her in the final.
"In retrospect, I'm glad that I lost to her ... I feel like with losses it makes you reflect more. When you win, you reflect a little bit because it doesn't hurt that much," she said.
Teo's path to the gold-medal bout had come after a dramatic semi-final against India's Suchika Tariyal on Monday.
The pair were level after the first two rounds before Teo was initially declared the winner following an overtime round.
But Tariyal and her team challenged the decision. It prompted a review, which overturned the initial decision and declared the bout a draw, triggering a weight tiebreaker under Asian Mixed Martial Arts Association rules.
Teo ultimately advanced because she was lighter at the morning weigh-in, tipping the scales at 58.8kg compared with Tariyal's 59.85kg.
"We realised that in retrospect, I was hesitating a lot in yesterday's fight and honestly, I was pretty disappointed with my performance yesterday," said Teo.
"I felt like I could have dominated a lot more and a big part was my fault. My cornerman gave me the game plan, and I was overly eager to grapple and I kind of didn't follow the game plan in the first round, which led (the match) to a very close call."
