UAE sweeps jiu-jitsu medals in Thailand

Emirati athletes clinch five gold, five silver and a bronze

The UAE’s jiu-jitsu team returned with a rich medal haul of five gold, five silver and a bronze from the Asian World Beach tournament held in Pattaya, Thailand.

In the No-Gi (without the traditional kimono) competition, the Emirati fighters also grabbed the team gold in the men’s division, thus bagging five gold out of the eight in the offing.

Thailand grabbed the remaining three gold in the men’s category and also went on to sweep the women’s competition with five gold.

UAE’s gold winners were — Zayed Al Kaabi (94kg), Saoud Abdulla Al Hammadi (85kg), Ebrahim Al Hosani (69kg) and Obaid Salem Al Nuaimi (56kg).

Mubarak Basharhil (120kg), Zayed Saif Al Mansouri (62kg), Abdulla Ali Musalim (69kg), Saaid Ahmad Hajhmodu (77kg) and Khalfan Belhol (85kg) won silver while Saeed Juma Al Mazroui (62kg) returned with a bronze.

“The tournament in Thailand is our first international competition in the busy 20172018 calendar. We travelled with a squad combining experience and youth. The whole idea of the federation is to provide our fighters as many opportunities as possible to compete in the international circuit,” said Yousef Al Bairaq, UAE team’s chef de mission.

Later this month, UAE will be taking part in the World Games, before heading for Vietnam in August for the Asian Championship and the fifth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Turkmenistan in September.