The UAE underlined their status as the continent’s top jiu-jitsu nation with a haul of five gold medals, five silver and a bronze at the Asian edition of the World Beach tournament in Pattaya, Thailand on Sunday.
The Emirati fighters racked up five of the eight gold medals, including the team event, that were up for grabs in the men’s division.
It meant every member of the squad returned with a medal in the No-Gi (without the traditional kimono) competition.
Thailand won the remaining three finals in the men’s division and made a clean sweep of the women’s competition by winning all five gold.
Zayed Al Kaabi led the gold rush for the UAE. He got the better of Tuan Hoc Nguyen of Vietnam and Achilleus Railli of Thailand in the 94-kilogramme final.
Saoud Abdulla Al Hammadi (85kg), Ibrahim Al Hosani (69kg) and Obaid Salem Al Nuaimi (56kg) were the others to strike gold.
Mubarak Basharhil (120kg), Zayed Saif Al Mansoori (62kg), Abdulla Ali Musalim (69kg), Saaid Ahmad Hajhmodu (77kg) and Khalfan Belhol (85kg) won silver while Saeed Juma Al Mazrouai (62kg) returned with a bronze.
The UAE, adopting a rotation policy of their national team, fielded one of their development squads.
“The tournament in Thailand is our first international competition in a busy 2017-2018 calendar,” said Yousef Al Bairaq, the chef de mission.
“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.”
The UAE’s next stop is the World Games in Poland later this month, followed by the second Asian Championship in Vietnam (August 11-13) and the fifth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Turkmenistan (September 16-17).
There is also the Grand Slam World Tour that kicks off with Tokyo (July 15), Los Angeles (September 23-24), Rio de Janeiro (November 10-12), Abu Dhabi (January 12-13) and London (March 10-11).
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Developer: Tribute Games
Publisher: Dotemu
Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, PC and Xbox One
Rating: 4/5
Company Profile
Company name: Hoopla
Date started: March 2023
Founder: Jacqueline Perrottet
Based: Dubai
Number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Investment required: $500,000
MATCH INFO
Inter Milan 2 (Vecino 65', Barella 83')
Verona 1 (Verre 19' pen)
FULL RESULTS
Middleweight
Eslam Syaha (EGY) bt Robin Roos (SWE)
Welterweight
Alex da Silva (BRA) bt Bagyash Zharmamatov (KGZ)
Murodov Samandar (TJK) bt Lucas Sampaio (BRA)
Shakhban Alkhasov (RUS) bt Salamat Orozakunov (KGZ)
Khotamjon Boynazarov (UZB) bt Mikail Bayram (FRA)
Bantamweight
Jieleyisi Baergeng (CHN) bt Xavier Alaoui (CAN)
Flyweight
Rashid Vagabov (RUS) bt Lun Qui (CHN)
Yamato Fujita (JPN) bt Furkatbek Yokubov (UZB)
Aaron Aby (WLS) bt Joevincent So (PHI)
Catchweight 176lb
Mark Hulm (RSA) bt Erkin Darmenov (KAZ)
Catchweight 160lb
Rustam Serbiev (BEL) bt Anar Huseyinov (AZE)
Catchweight 150lb
Islam Reda (EGY) bt Ernie Braca (PHI)
Flyweight (women)
Baktygul Kurmanbekova (KGZ) bt Maria Eugenia Zbrun (ARG)
Our legal consultant
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The biog
Name: Atheja Ali Busaibah
Date of birth: 15 November, 1951
Favourite books: Ihsan Abdel Quddous books, such as “The Sun will Never Set”
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Company name: Clinicy
Started: 2017
Founders: Prince Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman, Abdullah bin Sulaiman Alobaid and Saud bin Sulaiman Alobaid
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Total funding raised: More than $10 million
Investors: Middle East Venture Partners, Gate Capital, Kafou Group and Fadeed Investment
UAE SQUAD
Ali Khaseif, Mohammed Al Shamsi, Fahad Al Dhanhani, Khalid Essa, Bandar Al Ahbabi, Salem Rashid, Shaheen Abdulrahman, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Mohammed Al Attas, Walid Abbas, Hassan Al Mahrami, Mahmoud Khamis, Alhassan Saleh, Ali Salmeen, Yahia Nader, Abdullah Ramadan, Majed Hassan, Abdullah Al Naqbi, Fabio De Lima, Khalil Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Tahnoun Al Zaabi, Muhammed Jumah, Yahya Al Ghassani, Caio Canedo, Ali Mabkhout, Sebastian Tagliabue, Zayed Al Ameri
Jewel of the Expo 2020
252 projectors installed on Al Wasl dome
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550 tonnes of moulded steel were raised last year to cap the dome
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The size of 16 tennis courts and weighs as much as 500 elephants
Al Wasl means connection in Arabic
World’s largest 360-degree projection surface
Captain Marvel
Director: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Starring: Brie Larson, Samuel L Jackson, Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn
4/5 stars
UAE Premiership
Results
Dubai Exiles 24-28 Jebel Ali Dragons
Abu Dhabi Harlequins 43-27 Dubai Hurricanes
Fixture
Friday, March 29, Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Jebel Ali Dragons, The Sevens, Dubai