Thailand won its fourth gold medal at the 2026 Asian Games in Japan when Kanjutha Phattaraboonsorn defeated Bahrain’s Diana Poghosyan 3-0 in the women’s modern MMA 54kg final on Tuesday.
Kanjutha, an MMA world champion, has more than nine years of experience in combat sports. She began with Muay Thai, later becoming a professional fighter and a World Muay Thai Council champion, before moving into jiu-jitsu, where she became a three-time world champion. She eventually switched to MMA.
The victory made her Thailand’s first Asian Games MMA gold medallist.
Meanwhile, Maneewan Butsuwan won silver in the women’s +68kg kumite karate event after losing to Kazakhstan’s Sofya Berultseva in the final.
Maneewan is making her Asian Games debut. Her career was interrupted by a broken leg during her second year at university, an injury that led her to consider quitting the sport. She eventually returned to training and was selected for the Thai team at the 2025 SEA Games.
As of 1:30pm on Tuesday, China led the medal standings with 25 golds, followed by Japan with eight and South Korea with five. Kazakhstan and Thailand had four golds each, with Thailand ranking fifth overall.
