A celebrity Muay Thai bout proved fatal for an Indian-origin bodybuilder who suffered a cardiac arrest after the fight that lasted five minutes.
32-year-old Pradip Subramanian fought Steven Lim, a YouTube personality after another contestant pulled out of the inaugural event of the Asian Fighting Championship in Singapore, citing insurance issues, The Strait Times reported.
The bout- Mr Subramanian’s first-ever Muay Thai contest, had to be called off just five minutes into it when the referee noticed his nose bleeding, declaring 41-year-old Lim the winner by technical knockout.
Though he took a few blows to his head, Mr Subramanian was still standing after the match. He later appeared to be losing consciousness while in a corner and had to be helped out of the ring. He died of cardiac arrest respiratory failure at Singapore General Hospital an hour later, according to a preliminary medical report. The final medical report will be released in 30 to 60 days.
Mr Subramanian was the president of World Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Federation of Singapore. He was the late replacement for former Singapore Idol runner-up Sylvester Sim.
Police are investigating the death.
His opponent Steven Lim paid tribute to Mr Subramanian on Facebook.
However, many are questioning the organisers' decision to include Subramanian in the fight at the last moment.
"In my opinion, there was a serious breach (of safety protocols). How could you put two untrained civilians with no background in martial arts and have them compete in a professional bout with no protective gear?” questioned One Championship chairman and chief executive Chari Sityodtong.
AFC founder and chief executive officer Sasidharan Unnithan who was a long time friend of Mr Subramanian said all safety procedures were in place for the fight.
"All the referees are WMC-certified... we had a ringside doctor with a full medical team on standby," he told The Strait Times.
