Saturday was the final day of action at the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2015, and it capped a strong week for the home nation.
As more gold medals were won, Yahia Mansour, who picked up a second in the open competition, said that the quality of the field, both locally and from overseas, demonstrated just how in demand places for competition were at the event at the IPIC Arena.
“This championship is so strong, the competitors are some of world’s biggest names,” Mansour said. “Many fighters didn’t even take part in the US recently so that they did not get hurt for this tournament, which is the most important in the world.
“Everybody wants to take part in Abu Dhabi.”
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Mansour is optimistic the sport will continue to grow in the UAE following a successful week that has seen children and adults, both male and female, excelling.
“The future is beautiful,” he said. “We have more than 20,000 registered fighters in the UAE, and across all the schools in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Dubai. It’s mandatory to take part in school and military competitions, so no doubt there will be huge progress.”
Next up for him is the step up to brown belt and participation in the United States. Mansour has already set his sights on Abu Dhabi next year, and is grateful for the backing he has received so far.
“I must thank the head of the Asian federation, Abdulmunem Al Hashmi, who stood by me throughout my fights,” he said.
Mohammed Al Nuaimi, who picked up two gold medals at the competition, said he took heart from how well the young Emirati fighters had done earlier in the week. “The kids have done a great job winning over 30 or 40 gold medals,” he said. “They are the future.”
Compatriot Mohammed Al Qubaisi, who had a gold on Friday in the male purple belt, said it was important that Emiratis continued to make progress in future competitions.
“The coming competitions will be tougher, as I will be moving up to brown belt” he said after picking up a bronze in the open division. “I’m looking forward to the challenges.”
He echoed Mansour’s confidence in the sport’s future. “Of course, there’s great optimism – the young generation achieved so many good results here,” Al Qubaisi said. “The Abu Dhabi Pro is one of the strongest (events) in the world. What’s great about it is that every year there are new, big steps taken.”
Starting next year, it was announced yesterday, separate competitions will take place for fighters with special needs, the first time this has happened here.
Jiu-jitsu continues to spread rapidly across the Middle East and this is a big year. Having been set up in January 2014, the Jiu-Jitsu Asian Union is set to oversee its first Asian Open Championship in September this year. Qualifications are set to take place in the coming months. The sport has also been granted a place in the 2018 Asian Games at Jakarta.
“We are confident,” Al Qubaisi said. “More and more fighters are joining and making the competition stronger. We have to keep progressing because others are as well.”
akhaled@thenational.ae
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