The Al Hammadi sisters, Zamzam and Ghala, emerged as the stars of Day 2 at the International Mixed Martial Art Federation’s Youth World Championships at the Mubadala Arena on Thursday.
They were both crowned world champions as the UAE took their overnight tally to three golds, four silvers and four bronze in the presence of Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Council.
Zamzam, 15, scored a unanimous points decision over Ukrainian Kira Voliashchenko in the 52-kilogramme girls' final, after her younger sister Ghala, 14, overcame Yezin Suna of India in the girls' 40kg final.
“To win the world title and receive the medal from His Highness Sheikh Khaled and with my sister winning gold earlier is indeed a special day in my life,” the Abu Dhabi schoolgirl told The National.
“I’m really happy with the performances and the results of both me and my sister, because such achievements are hard to earn. It was the first time for us to compete at this level.”
Zamzam and Ghala also now hold two world titles, having won golds in the IJJF Jiu-Jitsu Youth World Championship.
Proudly displaying both the jiu-jitsu and MMA medals around her neck, Zamzam pointed to jiu-jitsu, which she has been practising for more than 11 years, as the foundation for her success in MMA.
“Everyone in my family practises jiu-jitsu. I was into ballet at the beginning and when I got into jiu-jitsu, I started to skip ballet classes to spend more time in jiu-jitsu,” the eldest of the two girls, and two boys, in the family said.
“I had a lot of success in jiu-jitsu and was selected for the UAE youth team. I have been training in MMA only for a year but now I want to pursue both martial arts for my country.”
Zamzam got the better of American Lariah Gill and Ireland's Olivia Babiarz, both by submission to reach the final.
Saeed Al Nuaimi and Salem Al Hamoud had to settle for silvers in the boys' 57kg and 77.1kg weights respectively.
Al Nuaimi lost by submission to Mukhammad Saidzoda of Tajikistan, while Al Hamoud suffered a similar defeat to Bulgarian Martin Petkov.
Hamdan Al Najar, Saif Al Hammadi and Omar Al Raeesi clinched bronze in the 48kg, 52kg and 57kg respectively.
Ukraine racked up four finals on the day to raise their tally to seven golds, followed by Tajikistan on four, UAE, USA and Ireland on 3, and Armenia, Uzbekistan and Poland on two each. Kazakhstan, Britain, Spain, Israel, Lebanon, and Bulgaria are on one apiece.
