Dubai: The UAE continued with their resurgence at the Gulf level, adding two more gold medals to their tally at the end of the second day of the 10th GCC Karate Championships last night.
The hosts, who finished fourth in the ninth edition of this regional competition, are currently placed second behind Kuwait.
Defending champions Kuwait lead the overall medals tally with 15 golds, while the UAE are presently second with nine gold medals in their kitty.
"I am happy with what we achieved today," UAE's Iranian coach Mohammad Bahrami told Gulf News.
"Of course we always aim high and hopefully we will be in a better position to strike for the gold in the team competition tomorrow," he added.
The UAE's two gold medals on the day came from Hussain Juma in the under-75kg category and Marwan Abdullah in the under-55kg category.
The UAE dominated the opening day of the competition on Tuesday with captain Shaikha Maitha Bint Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum leading from the front with three gold medals. Her teammate Haya Sameer Juma did well in the lower weight category claiming three golds to do the UAE women's team proud.
"Most of our fighters fell at the very last hurdle and that is how we ended up with a whole load of silver medals," the UAE coach stated. "The second has been an experience for our players and we hope to carry on improving on the final day and claim the top honours in the team competition," Bahrami said.
With Juma walking away with the first gold of the day in the under-75kg category for men, the hosts had to wait till late in the evening for their second success.
Young Marwan Abdullah was impressive in the second session, securing a comfortable win against Nasser Hamad of Kuwait in the under-55kg category.
"The key of the final lay in me waiting patiently for my opponent to make a mistake," Abdullah said later. "He was too much on the defensive and he thought he would get me to commit a foul. But I kept my patience and that finally paid off," said the Al Nasr Club member as his coach Hesham Serry hugged him with joy.
The two finalists were evenly matched with Abdullah the more aggressive of the two. But Hamad put up a solid defence till the conclusion of the round.
During the extra minute, Abdullah was quick on his feet and moved in suddenly to send a quick fist-kick combination on Hamad's chest to clinch the title.
"I am very ambitious in what I want to achieve in my weight category," the UAE athlete said.
"I want to be the best in the world in my weight category. Hopefully I will be able to go to the World Karate Championships and prove that I am the best," he said.
Results
U-75kg: 1. Hussain Juma (UAE); 2. Nawaf Al Hindal (Kuwait); 3. Mahmoud Ramadan (Qatar) and Attiah Ali (Saudi Arabia). U-80kg: 1. Younis Al Arraj (Qatar); 2. Hamad Al Ka'abi (UAE); 3. Ahmad Muneer (Kuwait) and Mohammad Seejan (Bahrain).
Over-80kg: 1. Jabber Ahmad (Kuwait); 2. Jabber Jasem (UAE); 3. Rami Afif (Qatar) and Turki Yahya (Saudi Arabia).
U-45kg: 1. Yousuf Meklaid (Kuwait); 2. Ala'a Yassin (Qatar); 3. Rashid Al Daheri (UAE).
U-50kg: 1. Ali Hassan (Kuwait); 2. Ahmad Baslaib (UAE); 3. Ebrahim Al Zubaidi (Qatar).
U-55kg: 1. Marwan Abdullah (UAE); 2. Nasser Hamad (Kuwait); 3. Abdul Rahman Yousuf (Saudi Arabia).
U-60kg: Mustafa Ahmoud (Bahrain); 2. Talal Mayah (Kuwait); 3. Hamid Al Za'abi (UAE) and Abdullah Al Rumaihi (Qatar).
Over-60kg: 1. Ahmad Khalid (Kuwait); 2. Sulaiman Abdul Kader (UAE); 3. Abdul Hai Jamal (Qatar).
U-70kg: 1. Abdullah Otaibi (Kuwait); 2. Yahya Ali (Saudi Arabia); 3. Abdul Aziz Jamal (Qatar) and Mansour Aziz (UAE).
U-55kg: 1. Sameer Mohammad (Saudi Arabia); 2. Mohammad Abdul Majid (UAE); 3. Mohammad Hashim (Kuwait) and Ahmad Hussain (Qatar).
U-60kg: 1. Hussain Al Khathan (Kuwait); 2. Mohammad Khamis (UAE); 3. Abdullah Jamal (Qatar) and Majid Ahmad (Saudi Arabia).
U-65kg: 1. Majid Redwan (Qatar); 2. Meshal Sultan (Kuwait); 3. Khalid Al Junaibi (UAE) and Ali Saeed (Saudi Arabia).
Open category: 1. Mahmoud Ramadan (Qatar); 2. Ahmad Muneer (Kuwait); 3. Bassam Eid (Bahrain) and Mansour Aziz (UAE).
