Abu Dhabi: UAE star Faisal Al Ketbi completed a grand double by adding another gold yesterday to the medal he won a day earlier in jiu-jitsu’s absolute division at the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
The UAE, having won four gold, four silver and seven bronze in jiu-jitsu are currently fourth in the overall medals tally with a total of 16 medals.
Al Ketbi, who had tamed compatriot Zayed Al Kaabi in the weight category for gold on Monday, defeated Masoud Hassanzadhevsoukal after the Iranian was disqualified when trailing on points 2-0.
Al Ketbi had made it to the absolute division finals, getting past Sami Shamseddin of Jordan and Iranian Masoud Jalilvand to reach the final. Al Ketbi’s compatriot Yahya Mansour Al Hammadi lost out to Hassanzadhevsoukal on advantage points 2-1 in the semi-finals and had to share the bronze with Jalilvand.
Zayed Al Mansouri took silver in the 62kg, while Said Al Mansouri and Obaid Al Nuaimi added a bronze each in the 62kg and 56kg, respectively.
Women’s category
In the women’s category, Mouza Al Shamsi had to settle for the silver in the 49kg weight after she went down fighting to Thailand’s Suwanan Boonsorn via submission lock.
Al Shamsi, who got a bye in the first round, defeated Malika Boboeva of Tajikistan on points 10-0 and Gulbahar Madreymowa of the host nation by advantage points 1-0 to reach the final.
Reem Abdul Kareem landed a bronze for UAE with victory over teammate Wadima Al Yafei on points 3-0 in the 45kg weight. There was however disappointment for Mahra Al Hanaei, who had been creating waves in the local scene for a while now. She missed out on a bronze in the 55kg after going down to Galina Duvanova of Kazakhstan on points 10-0.
The silver and two bronze in the women’s category for UAE is a huge boost considering that six of the seven fighters were just in their teens.
Meanwhile on the track, UAE’s Alia Mohammad Saeed won gold in the women’s 3,000m with a timing of 9:25.03. She was followed by India’s Jadhav Sanjivani and People’s Republic of China’s Wang Jinyu.
Ahmad Al Kamali, President of UAE Athletics, said of Alia’s win: “The gold medal clinched by Alia in the 3,000m event was a result of long preparations and camps. I congratulate all on this achievement, which I consider a result of the immense efforts and participation in Tunis, London, India and Morocco.”
Meanwhile, UAE’s national indoor football team lost to Uzbekistan 5-1 after having won over the Maldives 3-1 in the opening match.
UAE have two more matches remaining against China and Afghanistan.
