The Mother of Nation Jiu-Jitsu Championship, a club competition over three rounds exclusively for women, officially brought the curtain down the UAE’s 2019-2020 season.
It was the first domestic competition for women to be staged in more than six months after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, which forced the cancellation of several competitions.
Shamma Al Kalbani, representing Baniyas Club, celebrated her sixth gold of the season by taking the juvenile blue belt 57-kilogram final in the championship held at the Jiu-Jitsu Arena in Abu Dhabi at the weekend.
The 17-year-old also completed a highly successful season by taking her record to six golds and five silvers in as many competitions, which included gold at the Grand Slam Los Angeles and silvers at Tokyo and Moscow.
“It has indeed been a very satisfying season even though it was cut short by the Covid-19,” Shamma said.
“It was so exciting to return to competition and that feeling was even better as both me and my younger sister Hamda returned home with gold medals.
“The excitement began when our federation announced a two-week training camp followed by the Mother of Nation final round. Until then we were confined to our homes during the lockdown period.”
Al Wahda emerged champions from Al Ain and Al Dhafra in the nine-club Mother of Nation.
Shamma defeated Maitha Al Senaani of Wahda, Shabab Al Ahli’s Haya Al Hosani and Moza Al Marzouki of Dhafra, all by submissions.
Hamda took the teen yellow belt 68kg with victories over Amina Al Marar of Al Jazira and Wahda’s Sara Al Rasbi, both on points 9-0 and 7-0 respectively.
“I trained with my sister at home during the lockdown and it certainly seems to have had benefitted both of us,” Shamma said.
The rescheduled Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship takes place from November 18 to 21 will be but confined to the adults' category.
“The cancellation of the juvenile event means I won’t be able to participate in the World Pro this year,” Shamma said. “But I have to be realistic because it’s better to stay safe than be sorry.
“It’s not only me but the pandemic has impacted people around the world. I just hope we overcome this situation as quickly as possible and then have a full schedule ahead of us in 2021, hopefully.
“The good thing is that we can now train on under the safety and precautionary protocols recommended by our federation. I missed training so much and glad to get back to that routine again.”
Wadima Al Yafei, Maha Al Hanaei and Bashayer Al Matrooshi, some of the senior members of the UAE women’s national team and all from Al Ain, used the competition as a prep for the World Pro.
Al Yafei overcame her only opponent Shouq Al Dhanihani of Baniyas by points 5-0 in the Purple belt 49kg and Al Hanaei won both her fights by submission in the Purple Belt 55kg.
Al Matrooshi took the Blue belt 55kg final after overcoming her three opponents, two by submission and one on points.
