Sheikh Saeed, Mendonca reach round of 16; UAE jiu-jitsu stars win 7 gold medals

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Sheikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Bin Juma Al Maktoum and Sebastiao Mendonca advanced into the round of 16 of the Padel Championship at the ninth season of Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament on Sunday.

Held under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Council Executive Director of the Emirate of Dubai, and organised by the Dubai Sports Council, the NAS Sports Tournament has been one of the top sporting attractions during the Holy Month of Ramadan since 2013.

Sheikh Saeed and Mendonca managed to outlast their rivals, Salim Mokhtari and Omar Sawaya, 5-7, 6-4, 10-8, in one of the most thrilling clashes of the Advance Men category.

Earlier, in the opening match of the day, Javier Garcia Lopez and Martin Noschese Noschesetenis swept aside Hamad Al Mazmy and Saif Bin Obood Ali 6-0, 6-1.

Sami Al Sayyed and Xavier Masson were made to work hard for their 7-5, 6-3 win over Hamad Binsamnoh Abdalla and Adrian Chamizo.

Roberto Rodriguez Roberto and Antonio Cardona Toni, Saeed Mohammed AlMarri and Mohamed Saeed Almarri, Francisco Ferrao and Javier Rodriguez, Ranjan Pradeep Ranjan and Max Pickard Marsh also advanced to the next round.

 Saeed Hareb, Secretary General of the Dubai Sports Council, and Mohammed Atef Ali, Assistant Executive Director of the Palazzo Versace Hotel, pose for a picture after signing an agreement.

The duo of Khalid Alshamsi Abdullah and Ryan Wyatt Wyatt, Andres Rojas Sebastian and Pedro Rojas Rojas, Ammar Alawadhi Ahmed and Faris Al Hammadi Ayoub also reached the pre-quarters of the championship.

Meanwhile, Palazzo Versace Hotel Dubai joined the sponsorship roster of the ninth edition of the Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament after becoming the official hotel of the event.

The sponsorship agreement was signed at the Dubai Sports Council headquarters in the presence of Saeed Hareb, Secretary General of the Dubai Sports Council, and Mohammed Atef Ali, Assistant Executive Director of the five-star hotel.

Hareb expressed his pleasure to have Palazzo Versace Hotel Dubai as the partners and sponsor of the Nad Al Shab Sports Tournament, an agreement that combines the largest and most successful comprehensive sports tournament, with the only hotel in the region that bears the Versace name, which is considered among the elite in the world of hospitality and has its own character.

Mohammed Atef Ali expressed delight after signing the sponsorship agreement with the Dubai Sports Council to be the official hotel for the ninth edition of the Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament and to have the opportunity to contribute to achieving the great sporting and societal goals of this major sports tournament.

 Participants compete during the Jiu-Jitsu Championship.

The Assistant Executive Director of Versace Hotel also gave away trophies to the winners of the different categories of the Jiu-Jitsu Championship held at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex.

Exciting jiu-jitsu competitions were the highlight of the second day of the event. Hareb, Nasser Aman Al Rahma, Assistant Secretary-General, and Yousef Abdullah Al-Batran, Member of the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation, graced the occasion.

In the masters category over 30 years category, the UAE’s Abdulaziz Al Hammadi won the gold medal, Norbert Agpawan took silver, and another Emirati Mohammed Al Bastaki, claimed bronze.

In the 72 kg weight category, the Russian Shergiskhanov Dzamboul won the gold medal, Afghanistan’s Wahidullah Omran got the silver, and Britain’s Matthew Dams took the bronze. In the 85 kg weight category, Azerbaijan’s Verudin Nasirov won the gold medal. Russia’s Gadziv Kamil took silver, and France’s Alston Yao settled for bronze. In the 100 kg weight category, France’s Ismael Al Razoi won the gold, Emirati Musab Muhammad took the silver, and Uzbek Mohammed Rakhimov claimed the bronze.

In the masters category for the brown and black belts in the 72kg category, the Brazilians Diego Medeiros Marinho, Thiago Marquez, and Francisco Diego won the three medals; in the 85 kg category, the Brazilian Flavio Viana won the gold medal, the Brazilian Rogerio Masel won the silver; the Russian Gavorov Marat won the bronze, and in the 100 kg weight category, the Brazilians Pablo Aragao and Paulo Pinto won two of the three medals.

In the men’s category over 18 years of brown and black belts in the 62 category, Russian Agashirinov Artur won the gold medal, Brazilian Victor Nunes Souza won the silver, and the Emirati Sultan Al Owais took the bronze. In the 85 kg category, Brazilians Italo Oliveira, Anderson Ferreira, and Jeff Mesquita also won the three medals, respectively, and in the 100 kg category, the three medals were won by Brazilians Renato Cardozo, Gullherme Godez, and Caio Mendonca.

In the men’s category over 18 years of blue and purple belts, Brazilian Philip Silva won the gold medal, the Russian Rizav Riza won the silver, the French Ayoub Yao took the bronze, and in the 72 kg weight category, Brazilian Christian Lara won the gold medal, the Russian Magomed Ibragimov won the silver, and the Irish Cathal Pogo won the bronze, and in the 85 kg weight category, Brazilians Jefferson Alves Goto, Cadmil Farias, and Gustavo Bernardo won the three medals, and in the 100 kg weight category, Brazilian Denis Souza won the gold medal.