UAE’s Faisal Al Ketbi and Yahia Mansour Al Hammadi secure gold at Asian Beach Jiu-Jitsu Championships

The Emiratis arrived at the inaugural compeition with a 20-member squad. They topped Day 1 of the medal table with two gold, three silver and four bronze. Amith Passela reports from Negombo, Sri Lanka.

UAE's Faisal Al Ketbi has Zaid Granduke on the mat in the semi-finals of the 94kg weight division. Photo courtesy UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation

NEGOMBO // Faisal Al Ketbi is hoping to complete the double after winning a gold medal in his weight division on the opening night of the inaugural Asian Beach Jiu-Jitsu Championships.

After drawing a first-round bye, the Emirati displayed his skills and experience to overcome Korean Lee Gang-jae and Zaid Granduke of Jordan for a meeting with teammate Zayed Al Kaabi in an all-Emirati final in the 94-kilogramme.

However, the final did not take place as Al Kaabi conceded the match as they both look ahead to reach the medal round in the absolute class on the second day of the competition at the Jetwing Hotel in Negombo, a popular tourist beach resort on the coastal town 40 kilometres from Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital.

“It is the third time we have both reached the final in an Asian competition and I think it’s the experience to handle different style of combat adopted in the continent’s competitions,” said Al Ketbi, the first Emirati black belt in the sport.

“In Asia, the opponents have made the transition from judo, wrestling, sambo and also in different traditional martial arts. It’s not purely Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu style that we have to face in these competitions like in other international events.

“We don’t know most of our opponents. There is an element of uncertainty in their styles. These guys can surprise you with unconventional moves as some of our younger players found out in this championship.”

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The UAE arrived with a 20-member squad. They topped Day 1 of the medal table with two gold, three silver and four bronze.

Korea ended the day with two gold, two silver and three bronze followed by Iraq (1g, 1s), Japan (1g, 1b), Jordan, 1g, 1b), Kazakhstan (1s, 1b), Pakistan (2b), host Sri Lanka (1b) and Turkmenistan (1b).

Yahia Mansour Al Hammadi won the second gold for the UAE in the 94-plus kg weight final.

Al Hammadi was impressive, winning his two fights by submissions and the final on points 6-0.

The burly Emirati won his opening contest in 18 seconds over Muhammet Adayev of Turkmenistan and followed it up with choke on Sri Lankan KMKD Kumara in two-and-a-half minutes. He won a unanimous points decision over Alaa Al Roghani in the final.

Omar Al Fadhli, 16, and Khalifa Nasarati, 17, the Emirati teenagers and the two youngest competitors in the championships won the hearts of the crowd with their impressive performances in the 56kg weight class.

Al Fadhli stunned an experienced Korean Kim Byeong-sun on points 14-6 and Awais Ashiq of Pakistan 2-0.

He was edged out by Masatomo Nishibayashi of Japan in the final by an advantage point after a 2-2 score deadlock.

Nasarati went down to the eventual winner Nishibayashi to an arm-lock after leading on points in his semi-final.

He bounced back to win his bronze medal round from Korean Kim, leading 8-0 on points before ending the contest with an arm-lock more than two minutes left of the six-minute duration.

“Omar is one from the golden generation,” Al Ketbi said. “For a youngster, he has more heart than skills when he goes into a contest.

“Today he had to deal against opponents who were older, much stronger and more experienced than him. And I think he did very well to reach the final and only narrowly losing. It was a commendable performance.”

The opening day’s competition saw 75 matches worked off on two mats, and with a colourful opening ceremony and stoppage for a couple of cultural shows. The festivities ended past 1am Sri Lankan time.

The second day’s competition will see six medals up for grabs for the women and the absolute class for the men.

Results

56kg: 1. Masatomo Nishibayashi (Jpn); 2. Omar Al Fadhli (UAE); 3. Awais Ashiq (Pak) and Khalifa Nasarati (UAE).

62kg: 1. Amir Al Bazy (Irq); 2. Zayed Al Mansouri (UAE); 3. Gaku Miyazaki (Jpn) and Jahanzeb Lone (Pak).

69kg: 1. Ku Bon-seong (Kor); 2. Kim Young-jun (Kor); 3. Taleb Al Kurbi (UAE) and Zhanbolet Zakarin (Kaz).

77kg: 1. Noh Young-am (Kor); 2. Park Jong-hyson (Kor); 3. Mohammed Al Qubaisi (UAE) and Saif Al Qubaisi (UAE).

85kg: 1. Haider Rasheed (Jor); 2. Andrey Gavrilyuk (Kaz); 3. Choi Hyung-suk (Kor) and Yu Dong-min (Kor).

94kg and under: 1. Faisal Al Ketbi (UAE); 2. Zayed Al Kaabi (UAE); 3. Zaid Granduke (Jor) and Lee Gang-jae (Kor).

94kg and over: 1. Yahia Mansour Al Hammadi (UAE); 2. Alaa Al Roghani (Irq); 3. Lakshan Sanjeewa (Sri) and Muhammet Adayev (Tkm).​

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