More than 300 of the country’s best grapplers, both Emirati and expatriates, were at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex on Thursday, competing for gold in 31 different categories of the NAS Jiu-Jitsu Championship.

Competitions took place in five different divisions – Juvenile Male, Juvenile Female, Male Adult, Female Adult and Male Master  – and Nasser Aman Al Rahma, Assistant Secretary General of Dubai Sports Council, and Yousef Al Batran, a Board member of the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation, were at the venue to present the top 3 of each category with their medals, alongside Adil Yousif Albannay, Chairman of the NAS Sports Tournament’s Technical Committee.

“We, the Jiu-Jitsu fraternity, are really happy to be a part of the NAS Sports Tournament for a second year because this tournament enjoys a great reputation, not just domestically but internationally as well,” said Batran.

“I would like to thank Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, for giving Jiu-Jitsu this great platform to expand its base in the country and to take the sport to a wider audience.

“Through the Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament, and other local events, the Federation has been able to find many new talents, who have strengthened the ranks of the national teams. Additionally, this tournament is a great preparation for a busy season ahead, which includes the 4th Asian Jiu-Jitsu Championship in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from July 14-22.”

Dubai Police defeated Al Taher 6-2 on Thursday night to take third place in the NAS Futsal Championships, but the Policemen were far from satisfied.

“Winning third place is the least we could do,” said Waleed Bashr, a Dubai Police player. “I believe this team deserved a lot more than bronze, but we lost in the semi-finals and that was a huge disappointment because I believe we deserved to go further given our performance in all the matches this year.

“We played at a really high level, but unfortunately we could not get the job done in the semis. This is football and we just have to accept the result. But we promise we will come back next year and aim for a bigger achievement.”

Abdullah Abdulbasit, the Dubai Police coach, added: “Winning the third-place playoff is definitely not a consolation or compensation for anything. Given the level this team had shown, our ambitions were much higher than finishing in third place.”

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RESULTS:

NAS JIU-JITSU: JUVENILE GI MALE – BLUE / 50KG: 1-Omar Al Suwaidi (UAE), 2-Mayed Al Shehhi (UAE), 3-Ammar Al Dhaheri (UAE).

JUVENILE GI MALE (BLUE / 60KG: 1-Khaled Al Shehhi (UAE), 2-Ahmed Al Zaabi (UAE), 3-Abdulrahman Naji (UAE).

JUVENILE GI MALE - BLUE / 73KG: 1-Saif Al Mansoori (UAE), 2-Hamed Al Shamsi (UAE), 3-Sultan Al Hosani (UAE).

JUVENILE GI MALE - BLUE / 94KG: 1-Salem Mubarak (UAE), 2-Isa Isaev (Russia), 3-Khamis Belkuhood (Russia).

MALE GI - BLUE & PURPLE / 77KG: 1-Uanderson De Oliveira (Brazil), 2-Mohammed Al Suwaidi (UAE), Victor Lima (Brazil).

MALE GI - BLUE & PURPLE / 62KG: 1-Theyab Al Nuaimi (UAE), 2-Hadi Al Hussaini (UAE), 3-Ahmad Moghrabi (Palestine).

MALE GI - BLUE & PURPLE / 94KG: 1-Ramzi Yahia (Lebanon), 2-Abdullah AL Kubaisi (UAE), 3-Khalid Al Shamsi (UAE).

MALE GI - BLUE & PURPLE / 110KG: 1-Makhmud Lechiev (Russia), 2-Mohammed Mustafa (Jordan), 3-Kamran Husenov (Azerbaijan).

MALE GI - BLUE & PURPLE / MASTER 1 / 62KG: 1-Haitham Hanawi (UAE), 2-Ibrahim Mansour (UAE), 3-Tariq Al Zaabi (UAE).

MALE GI - BLUE & PURPLE / MASTER 1 / 77KG: 1-Dalicier Londono (Colombia), 2-Cezar Rusu (Romania), 3-Ahmed Aliani (Morocco).