The UAE's fighters enjoyed a memorable day at the IFMA Muaythai World Championships by winning eight out of 11 semi-finals they contested in the Youth U23 category in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
Bilal Ibrahim set the ball rolling for the host team on Day 5 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, coming out winner by a unanimous decision over Moroccan Hichou Oussama in the men’s 63.5-kilogramme.
“I am delighted to be in the Youth Worlds final in only my second appearance in the championships,” Ibrahim told The National after dominating all three rounds of the contest.
“Me and my coaches watched Hichou’s fights in the championship and made the game plan, and it worked out perfectly. As I always said, combat sports is always difficult and hard.
“Everything is possible. It takes only one wrong move and you can be out of the competition.
“However, I got full control of the fight and everything we planned went accordingly. Now that I have reached the final, the objective is to go all-out for the gold.”
Ymad Atrous made it two-from-two after outclassing Jordanian Mohammad Awad in the 75kg.
Atrous, 18, won the first two rounds and, with the fight in the bag, he went for safety in the third. “I didn’t want to take any risk of being injured, so I went for safety as the next best option,” he said.
“This is my second shot at the Youth Worlds. I finished fifth last time in Bangkok and [I'm] very happy and excited to be in the final.”
Joining them in the finals were Mohammed Mardi, Mohammed Touizi, Ahmed Al Dhaheri in the male division.
In the female division, the UAE won three out of four semi-finals. Zineb Bouhmada led the charge with a unanimous decision over Bahrain’s Beatriz Diniz in the 60kg weight.
“It was another good day’s work for me to reach the final on my debut at this level,” said Bouhmada.
“Obviously very happy to reach the final and hopefully I can go the distance in the gold medal match. It has been a wonderful day overall with eight finalists from 11 semi-finals.
“It has been all hard work for all of us but very rewarding to have achieved such results. Hopefully we can convert all of them to gold, come Friday.”
Miryam Chalghomi got the better of Huang Nguyen Thi of Vietnam in the 63.5kg, while Salama Aljneibi received a walkover from Cambodia’s Tharoth Oum in the 75kg.
Those who failed to progress from the last four were Abdulla Al Hosani in the 91kg, Mohamed Jafleh in the 57kg and Aya Benchohra, who went down to Mary Salazar of the Philippines in the 45kg female.
