Emirati teenager Omar Al Fadhli is has two objectives to work towards over the next two months.
The 17-year-old jiu-jitsu practioner is preparing for the World Championships for Aspirants and Juniors in Athens, Greece in March followed by Abu Dhabi World Professional Championship in Abu Dhabi in April.
“It’s my last season as a juvenile and my last chance to strike it big,” said Al Fadhli after claiming a gold in the Gi and silver in the No-Gi (without the traditional kimono) at the Sharjah Jiu-Jitsu International over the weekend.
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“I’m training more than before with the national team squad with the objective of achieving the best possible result for my country at both Athens and the Abu Dhabi World Pro.”
At 16, Al Fadhli became the youngest to represent the UAE senior squad at an international competition, winning a silver medal at the inaugural Asian Beach Jiu-Jitsu Championship in Sri Lanka in July 2016.
“Omar is one from the golden generation,” Faisal Al Ketbi, the captain of the team and the UAE’s first black belt in jiu-jitsu, said at that time.
“For a youngster, he has more heart than skills when he goes into a contest. He had to deal against opponents who were older, much stronger and more experienced than him. He did very well to reach the final and only narrowly losing.”
At the Sharjah International, Al Fadhli overcame Zayed Saleh Al Kurbi in the first round and got the better of Mohammed Abdullah Al Darmaki in the blue belt 55-kilogramme final. He went down to his UAE national teammate Khalid Eskandar Al Taher in the No-Gi 58kg division.
“Every competition has been part of my preparation for these two championships,” Al Fadhli said of Athens (March 17-19) and Abu Dhabi (April 10-22).
“I think I did well at Sharjah to win four of my five fights over the two days. Now I’m looking ahead for the next competition, which is the Kids Challenge in Abu Dhabi on February 24 and 25.”
In the black belt divisions for adults, the Brazilians dominated the category once again by sweeping all 10 medals up for grabs.
Mauricio Henrique Lima made the most of the absence of both Jose Junior and Ricardo Evangelista to take gold in the black belt 110kg by defeating Pedro Goncalves by points (6-0) in an all-Brazilian final.
Marcos Costa beat Ygor Dantas in the 85kg final, Tiago Bravo overcame Samuel Canquerino in the 77kg and Thiago Marques took less than 30 seconds to force a submission on Emirati Taleb Al Kirbi in the 77kg Masters-1.
Alexandre Rotundo won the black belt 110kg Masters-1 from Eric Marques in another all-Brazilian final, while Daniel Noguira took the 85kg Masters-1 from Matheus Mizael by submission.
Paulo Pinto took the Masters 94kg Masters-1 from Celso De Campos, Uira Dal Jovem got the better of Enio Moraes in the 77kg Masters-2 and Pablo Deziro edged out Eduardo da Silva in the 85kg Masters-2.
In the black belt division for women, Tamiris Viera outclassed Jessica da Silva by submission to claim the gold medal in 90kg final.
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