Abu Dhabi: Abdul Munam Al Hashemi, president of the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation, was elected unopposed as the president of the newly formed Asian Jiu-Jitsu Federation here on Sunday.
Al Hashemi was the favourite to win the post ahead of challengers from Japan, South Korea and Kazakhstan.
However, hours before the election, a consensus was reached that no one would challenge Al Hashemi and there will be no elections.
There will also be five vice-presidents from five zones of Asia. Fahad Ali Al Shamsi, also from the UAE, will be the general secretary of the federation which will be headquartered in the UAE.
In the UAE, the sport enjoys the patronage of Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. Representatives from the 22 countries gathered at the Etihad Towers in the capital for the meeting.
Panagiotis Theadoropoulos, president of the Jiu-Jitsu International Federation, had already rated Al Hashemi highly ahead of the meeting: “UAE has played a great role in pushing the sport forward in the Middle East. In my opinion, they have played a pioneering role to develop and promote the sport.
“They have already proved they are very serious in what they do by hosting many competitions and staging trials around the world. They also have the finances and the organisational acumen to take the sport forward.”
