Abu Dhabi: The UAE’s Eid Rehaan Al Tanigi made a winning comeback to make it six gold medals for the UAE while lady luck smiled on Faisal Al Ketbi when he was awarded a silver on Saturday to add to his success earlier on in the championship.
The UAE enjoyed a fair amount of success with six gold medals in the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu Jitsu Championship while in an all-Brazilian final, defending Open champion Rodolfo Vieira lost to Marcus Almeida.
The six gold medallists for the UAE were Obaid Khamis Al Kaabi (Masters, 76kg, White belt), Ahmad Suhail Al Ketbi (Masters, 76kg, Blue and Purple); Saeed Al Kasooni (Seniors 1, 82kg, Blue & Purple); Abdullah Al Ketbi (Seniors 1, 88kg, Blue & Purple); Faisal Al Ketbi (100kg, Brown belt) and Eid Rehaan Al Tenigi in the Masters, open weight, Blue & Purple belt category.
Eid, who won in 2009, missed out over the last few editions due to his travel and work commitments, but was back and thanked his boss for that. “This competition is the best in the world without any doubt. It is the best for prize money, for competitors, for the coverage it get,” Eid said.
“My boss give me a chance to come back and I am really very happy,” he added.
After Keenan Cornelius and Paulo Miyao were disqualified in the final of the brown belt adult absolute, Kaue Damasceno was the only one on the podium. The referee disqualified both Cornelius and Miyao. Kaue, who placed third after beating Faisal Al Ketbi in the match for third place, got lucky along with the Emirati star as they claimed gold and silver respectively.
In the showpiece final, Almeida and Vieira were locked 2-2 with a few minutes left. Almeida went for it and scored two more points with another sweep. Vieira tried to come back, but Almeida’s balance prevailed and the reigning champion was dethroned.
It was Almeida’s first WPJJC absolute title and he said: “This is the third time we faced each other, he beat me the first time, I beat him the second and now I am feeling great with this win.
“It is my fourth year here - first time I got third place, second time I finished second and last year I won my category. Now, I have won the Open class so it was like a perfect weekend,” Almeida said, richer by $30,000 (Dh110,100).
Over 1000 fighters took part in the 5th edition of the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu Jitsu Championship as well as the World Jiu Jitsu Children’s Cup, which were held under the patronage of Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
Abdul Munam Al Hashemi, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Jiu-Jitsu Federation said: “The atmosphere was electric with fans from all over the world cheering on their fellow countrymen and women. It’s great to see such passion in these fighters and I truly believe that this Championship will inspire a new generation of Jiu-Jitsu fighters in the UAE.
“This championship is firmly established on the international sporting calendar and will only continue to get bigger and better every year with the world’s best fighters returning to Abu Dhabi for the ultimate fight weekend.”
