UAE fighter Al Shehhi keeps his promise to win gold at the Asian Games

The UAE National Jiu-Jitsu Team, sponsored by Mubadala Investment Company, delivered impressive performances at the ongoing 19th edition of the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, securing four medals, including one gold and three silver, on Thursday, the first day of the jiu-jitsu competitions.

During the heated competitions held at the Xiaoshan Linpu Gymnasium JJI, UAE’s Khaled Alshehi gave the team a strong start with a gold, while Balqees Abdulla, Mohamed Alsuwaidi, and Khalid Alblooshi took home silver.

Mohamed Salem Al Dhaheri, Deputy Chairman of the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation and Head of the Mission to China, dedicated the team’s achievement to the UAE’s wise leadership, the people of the Emirates, and all the partners and sponsors of the Federation. “The people of the UAE had high expectations for the team on the first day, and the team put in ga reat effort, especially since the UAE participated with six athletes,” he said.

“The team performed exceptionally well, with four of them reaching the podium in this competitive tournament featuring champions from all across the continent.”

Mubarak Al Menhali, Director of the Technical Department at the UAEJJF, added:

“The team spared no effort in their preparation for this tournament. We always hold great expectations because we have immense confidence in our athletes.”

The Mens -62Kg division saw an all-Emirati final where Khaled Alshehi and Khalid Alblooshi faced off, with Alshehi winning the gold.

“After securing the gold at the Asian Championship this year, I made a promise that I would win the gold at the Asian Games. I am glad to have fulfilled my promise, and I will not cease training or rest until I achieve gold at the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship next November.”

Khalid Alblooshi, the silver medalist in the 62 kg weight category, also credited the UAEJJF for his performance.

“The programmes initiated by the Federation for spreading and developing the sport and creating champions have led to the results we witnessed today.

“I am proud of today’s achievement, especially since, I competed against my own teammate, Khaled Al Shehhi. When it’s an all-Emirati final, the UAE is the biggest winner.”

The fourth medal, a silver, was earned by Balqees Abdulla, who faced Filipino Margarita Ochoa in the 48 kg final.

She said, “I had hoped to win the gold, but it was a tough fight, and my opponent was a black belt holder with far more experience on the mat. Nevertheless, it was a valuable experience and has provided me with many lessons that I can carry forward and apply to my performance in upcoming tournaments.”

The UAE took their medals tally to 11 at the Asian Games in China after winning four medals, including a gold, on Thursday.

Khaled Al-Shehhi won the gold medal in jiu-jitsu on Thursday, the UAE's second gold medal at the ongoing Asian Games.

Earlier, Balqis Al Hashemi won a silver medal in the 48 kg category of the jiu-jitsu event.

The other two medals on Thursday also came in jiu-jitsu with Khaled Al Balushi claiming a silver in the 62 kg category and Mohammed Al Suwaidi also winning a silver in the 69 kg competition at Hangzhou.

Uzbekistan's Bakhodir Jalolov won super-heavyweight boxing gold and China's women's basketballers beat their arch-rivals Japan in a thriller at the Asian Games on Thursday.

Tokyo Olympic champion and twice world champion Jalolov, 29, beat Kazakhstan's Kamshybek Kunkabayev, 31, on points to take gold and continue his impressive record. The two-metre tall southpaw is also unbeaten in 13 professional fights.

There was bad news for Uzbekistan's neighbours Turkmenistan after their top placed finisher at the Games so far, Kurash men's +90kg silver medallist Tejen Tejenov, tested positive for banned substances and has been provisionally suspended, the International Testing Agency (ITA) said.

Tejenov is the first medallist and fifth athlete at the Hangzhou Games to have been reported by the ITA as failing a drugs test. The 30-year-old is a former judoka and wrestler who came seventh in Judo at the Jakarta 2018 Games.

Tejenov's test sample was taken on Sept. 30 during the Kurash men's +90kg finals, and returned an "adverse analytical finding for the non-specified prohibited substances dehydrochloromethyl-testosterone metabolite and methasterone metabolites", the ITA said.

ARM IN ARM

In the men's cycling road race Kazakhstan's Yevgeniy Federov, 23, and Alexey Lutsenko, 31, crossed the finish line arm in arm, a whopping five minutes 42 seconds ahead of Jambaltsamts Sainbayar in third.

Federov took the gold. He said the pair decided he should be allowed to win because Lutsenko already had four Asian Games golds, including in Tuesday's time trial. But his team mate shared a slightly different account.

"It’s me who decided who win the gold… I’m just kidding," said Lutsenko after finishing the 210km course. "We tried to reach the finish line together."

The two top ranked men's squash players in Asia, Ng Eain Yow, 25, from Malaysia and Saurav Ghosal, 37, from India, went head to head for the second time in a week in the singles final.

In the men's team semi-final on Sept. 29 Ghosal won (3-1) to help send India through to the final which they later won against Pakistan. This time Ng got his revenge winning a tight match 3-1 to take gold.

"I'm just soaking it in at the moment," Ng said.

"At times, it just felt like there was no way we could win a point. Everyone was just picking everything up."

The women's final was also a fierce contest. But in the end Malaysia's Subramaniam Sivasangari overcame Hong Kong's Chan Sin Yuk 3-2 for her second gold of the Games after her Malaysian team won gold, also against Hong Kong last week.

"Actually don't know what happened the last couple of points," said Sivasangari, 24, who has spent most of the past year in recovery after being involved in a serious car accident last summer. "When I'm down, I always think about the tragedy that happened to me a year ago. It’s very emotional. I'm just happy to be winning today."

• Sports