Abu Dhabi does it again

ABU DHABI — Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has been growing rapidly in the UAE and especially Abu Dhabi and the capital will host the World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship in April next year. The final will be held from April 14 to 16.

By James Jose

  • Follow us on
  • google-news
  • whatsapp
  • telegram

Published: Wed 20 Oct 2010, 12:16 AM

Last updated: Mon 6 Apr 2015, 5:05 AM

It is the third edition of the championship after rounds in 2009 and 2010.

The event kicks-off with 12-round five-star trials, four-star trials and three-star trials, starting with Korea on October 24.

The rounds will be held in Korea, Brazil (Rio de Janeiro), New Zealand, South Africa, China, Brazil (Gramado), Poland, Australia, Canada, Japan and Bahrain.

Participation in the trials is not mandatory but the winners of the trials will get an all-expenses paid trip to Abu Dhabi for the World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship.

“I would like to thank Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, for his support to sports and sportspersons in Abu Dhabi. He has been especially supportive of jiu-jitsu and we want to send a message on how much we love this sport,” Mohammed Ibrahim Al Mahmood, the general secretary of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council (ADSC), said on Monday.

“Shaikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan, national security advisor and chairman of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council (ADSC), has also played a great role so that young people come and take up this sport. This sport is spreading and one can find a lot of centres of training now. Shaikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan is the father of this sport. He introduced this sport to the UAE,” Mohammed Ibrahim Al Mahmood added.

“In recent years, Abu Dhabi has become the sports capital of the world with big events, world class events taking place here. And we are happy to announce the World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship. All the attention of the world will be focussed on Abu Dhabi,” he said.

About the event, he said: “We will have different rounds in different countries, across different continents starting with the round in Korea on October 24. The final will be in Abu Dhabi in April 2011. This sport is born again in Abu Dhabi thanks to the support of our leaders who want it to spread.”

Mohammed Jassim, who is on the board of the UAE Wrestling, Judo & Jiu-Jitsu Federation, said: “After two years, we now have 42 centres training jiu-jitsu.

This number is in schools in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. We now have 20,000 who have enrolled to learn jiu-jitsu. We hope to increase it to over 63 centres in the coming years.”

Caio Siebel, event supervisor, said: “To have the best fighters we decided to have trials in different countries. There will be five-star trials, four-star trials and three-star trials, which will act as qualification rounds. The total prize money for the event is $ 1 million. We will be in charge of the main event but we will oversee all the other events. It would be organised according to the rules and regulations that we have prepared in Abu Dhabi.”

james@khaleejtimes.com



More news from