The National’s Sport cover for the Sunday, April 26 issue, featuring American Mackenzie Dern who sent a shock through the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship on its final day.
Covering the tournament at IPIC Arena at Zayed Spots City, Amith Passela writes:
“Mackenzie Dern stunned the jiu-jitsu world by handing Gabrielle Garcia, the nine-time women’s world champion, her first defeat in the black belt category in more than five years.
“Dern, 22, ended the burly Brazilian’s unbeaten run in the semi-finals on a penalty point en route to winning the absolute class from Vanessa Nascimento in the seventh Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship.
“The bout between Dern and Garcia resembled a typical David versus Goliath contest on the mat. Garcia stood 1.88m tall and weighed over 90 kilogrammes in stark contrast Dern’s 55kg and 1.57m frame.”
An ecstatic Dern told Amith: “I always believed in my abilities that I could defeat her, not just her but anybody on the right day.”
Meanwhile Ali Khaled notes the 2015 edition of the tournament showed that, as Emirati double gold-medal-winner Yahia Mansour put it, "everbody wants to take part in Abu Dhabi".
Writes Ali:
“Jiu-jitsu continues to spread rapidly across the Middle East and this is a big year. Having been set up in January 2014, the Jiu-Jitsu Asian Union is set to oversee its first Asian Open Championship in September this year. Qualifications are set to take place in the coming months. The sport has also been granted a place in the 2018 Asian Games at Jakarta.”
Mohammed Al Qubaisi, another Emirati gold medal winner, tells Ali:
“We are confident. More and more fighters are joining and making the competition stronger. We have to keep progressing because others are as well.”
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