SHARJAH // For someone who had already bagged a gold medal, the young Emirati could barely hold back the tears.
On Monday, teenager Hawra Mohammed Abbas was one of two UAE fighters to win in their categories at the West Asian Karate Championship taking place at the Sharjah Ladies Club.
A day later, she was part of the group that finished third in the team competition after a loss to Iran.
Eventually, Abbas, 19, was able to raise a smile as she recalled her individual success, defeating the Jordanian Raghad Al Muhtaseb in the final.
“They were very tough matches, but I performed at my very best,” she said.
“It was not easy, but after putting so much into my training recently, I managed to achieve the gold.”
On the mat, Abbas, who has trained with Al Ahli Club in Dubai for the past five years, is a fierce competitor, and her achievements are even more remarkable considering her size.
“I took part in the Under 55kg, but I weigh so much less than everyone else,” she said. “I should be taking part in the Under 50, and I’m only 42kg. It’s a huge difference. And I’m 1.42 metres.”
Karate can be more exciting and attack-minded than other, more tactical martial arts. Yet in the UAE, it remains firmly in the shadow of jiu-jitsu.
“The improvement in the standards of karate is slow at the moment,” Abbas said. “It can only become like jiu-jitsu if there is major funding from sponsors or from the authorities here.”
Emiratis won 10 gold medals during the two days of competition, with Marwan Al Maazmi, 23, claiming two golds in the kata men’s singles and the kata team event.
“There were a lot of strong competitors from Iran, Iraq, Saudi and Qatar,” he said. “They have fought in many Asian competitions, not just West Asia. Thankfully, I beat the Iraqi Zain El Abidine in the first match and the Qatari Adham Abdel Nasser in the final, both by a score of 5-0, and I got the gold.”
Al Maamzi weighs 69kg and stands 1.73m but, like Abbas, fought opponents who were far bigger.
“I fight in the kata category, which has no weight restrictions, so it’s more difficult,” he said.
“I was the smallest fighter. In kata, it’s not about strength, it’s about stamina, speed, style and technique. The smaller you are, the quicker and better balanced you are.”
At the 2013 Asian Karate Championships, held in Dubai, Al Maamzi’s gold in the kata division was a landmark for him and the UAE.
“In the tournament, it was the first time that an Arab fighter beat a Japanese fighter,” he said. “It was my third time taking part in that competition. At my first, in 2011 in China, I won silver.”
Al Maamzi echoed Abbas’s call for additional support for karate.
“This is where we suffer,” he said. “Jiu-jitsu and other sports get a lot more funding than us, so they are more popular. But if you look at achievements, you’ll see that we get more medals, but we don’t have the backing and the exposure.
“We’re not able to enter regional or international competitions which would give us so much more experience. It’s no use training all the time and not competing.”
This competition brought an end to the karate season until next year, when Al Maamzi and his teammates will target success at the world championships in Linz, Austria, next October.
akhaled@thenational.ae
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