Omani teen brings home international accolade
Omani teenager Ammar Usama al Barwani, a 13-year-old sportsman, made his country proud after winning the first title at the recently held Wawan Sports Night in Kuwait recently.
Practising under Risto Dimitrov, he brought home silver medal after beating many champions from the region in the official Judo International Tournament and etched the first in the national judo history.
“We competed in Middle East’s biggest sports event called ‘Wawan Sports Night’ and our students participated in judo, jiu-jitsu and grappling. My student Amaar Usama al Barwani is the first Omani who competed in judo and took silver in his division. I think we just wrote Oman sports history and we are competing in this sports for the first time,” Risto told the Observer.
Risto himself had competed in all 3 and he was the only one that took 2 medals in different sports. He took gold in grappling in his division, took silver in jiu-jitsu while his colleague and coach Taoufik Serbout took gold in jiu-jitsu in his division, silver in grappling in his division and silver in ‘absolute’ division.
“Ammar is one of my judo students and only for training 6 months with me in UFC Gym Oman. He is training in boxing, kickboxing, MMA but most importantly, he is concentrated on judo, and with my team we are trying to set up judo in Oman, as judo is an Olympic sport,” adds Risto, who is a judo black belt holder and coach.
Risto and his students do take part in marathons, obstacle races, spartan races, boxing, kickboxing all around the world.
‘Wawan Sport Night’ was held in Kuwait’s International Fair Ground last month and was a huge event which had many internationally acclaimed names vying for the titles.
“Ammar is talented young guy who with help of his parents, will achieve a lot, and he has just started,” his coach Risto Dimitrov adds.