MMA champ Chungreng shares tales of joy, sorrow
Source: Chronicle News Service / Rajachandra Mutum

Imphal, September 24 2024: Inspite of small geographical size, Manipur is known as the powerhouse of sports in India and this status has been substantiated after Chungreng Koren emerged champion of the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) of Matrix Fight Night (MFN-15) .

Nicknamed 'The Indian Rhino', Chungreng bagged the bantamweight undisputed title of the Matrix Fight Night (MFN-15) held recently at Noida to become the first MMA fighter of India to wrest the title belt.

In an exclusive interview, Chungreng Koren, the third son of (late) Sikthang Koren and Neisem Koren of Kamu Koireng village in Senapati district, told The People's Chronicle that he was raised solely by his mother after his father passed away before his birth and accordingly missed the affection of his father.

Chungreng Koren said that he was drawn to contact sports from a very young age but had no idea on how to venture into the sport.

However, my mother met a woman from Changangei area of Imphal while selling vegetables at Khwairamband Keithel and told everything about my fondness for the sport.

The woman's daughter Ramani happened to be wrestling coach at SAI STC at Khuman Lampak during the time and started training in wrestling with the help of Ramani and head coach Lukhoi from Heingang in the year 2006-07 .

"After six months of training under Ramani and Lukhoi by staying in a rented quarter at Telipati, I won gold medal in state level wrestling competition.

In 2009, I got the opportunity to join SAI-SAG, Khuman Lampak and selected for the sub-junior national competition t ill 2012, winning multiple medals for the state.

Unfortunately, poverty shattered my dream of playing at international level including the Olympics and distanced myself from the sport," Chungreng Koren said adding that he started helping the family though manual work.

After marrying Linda Koren with the intention of helping and running family, my instinct for wrestling regained but my mother and wife opposed my decision.

After persistent persuasions, my mother agreed and I returned to wrestling in the latter part of 2016, underwent intense training for six months under the guidance of Ramani and Lukhoi, got selected for national level competition and won gold medal.

Accordingly, I was selected to represent Manipur in national games and even trained at Sonepat in Haryana with contributions from villagers and local people.

While preparing for the national games in Haryana, the news about postponement of national games shocked me and returned home to help family, he said.

The 26-year old father of two sons and a daughter further told The People's Chronicle that he decided to join Mixed Martial Arts in 2019 for a decent earning and went to Bangalore to train under MMA fighter Roshan and Bishal.

In the MFN-14 held in March-April this year, Chungreng Koren bagged title belt in interim bantamweight (61kg) followed by clinching the undisputed bantamweight title in MFN-15 recently at Noida in UP.

In his MMA career, Chungreng Koren never lost in 23 amateur fights but suffered defeat in a bout on split decision out of seven in his professional career so far.

He is currently undergoing training under coach Bishal at Gurgaon in Haryana for a major competition scheduled in December this year.

Chungreng Koren also said that he is able to reach the present stage due to the support of coach Ramani (currently centre-in-charge of SAI-STC), coach Lukhoi, mechanical engineer Gopal present residing at Gurgaon and MMA fighter Roshan, his wrestling colleague at SAL.

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