SME
Emirati champion Omar Al Suwaidi achieves a valuable victory over his American opponent Marquez
A well-deserved victory for Emirati Balqees Al Hashemi over Russian player Odintsova in the atomweight
Abu Dhabi Extreme brings together Faber and Fernandez after 18 years
Abu Dhabi, UAE:
Emirati player Omar Al Suwaidi and Emirati player Balqees Al Hashemi achieved two prominent victories in the fifth edition of the Abu Dhabi Extreme Championship, which was held yesterday evening at the Mubadala Arena in Zayed Sports City in Abu Dhabi, in the presence of Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa bin Sultan bin Shakhbout Al Nahyan, President of the Asian Chess Federation, President of the Emirates Electronic Sports Federation, First Vice President of the Arab Electronic Sports Federation for the Asian continent, Sheikh Tariq bin Faisal Al Qasimi, Her Excellency Alia bint Abdullah Al Mazrouei, Minister of State for Entrepreneurship, His Excellency Saleh Mohammed Al Jaziri, Director General of Tourism at the Department of Culture and Tourism in Abu Dhabi, and Mohammed Al Muhairi, Senior Head of the Citizens Banking Sector, in the Personal Banking Group at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, in addition to the stars of mixed martial arts of the UFC organization, most notably the champion Bilal Mohammed, who recently won the UFC middleweight belt, and the champion Ali Al-Qaisi.
The championship received wide international reactions following the great organizational, public and media success of the event specialized in the arts of Jiu-Jitsu and grappling inside the cage.
The 21-year-old Swede succeeded in snatching victory from his American opponent Marquez in the lightweight category, registering his name in the history of the championship, after a series of achievements and colorful medals that he won during the past period with the UAE Jiu-Jitsu team and Al-Wahda Club, the last of which was the gold medal in the Asian Championship that took place in the Emirates last May. He also previously won the last edition of the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship for the same weight and was the first Emirati in the black belt category to achieve the gold medal in the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Jiu-Jitsu for the Rio de Janeiro round last July.
The Emirati Swedish champion excelled in his fight against the American Marquez, after he won the fight with merit and worthiness, thanks to his strength, focus and wonderful performance inside the cage. The Swede received encouragement and cheers from the audience for the wonderful performance he presented, and his victory in the fight. Omar Al Suwaidi said: “This time I confirmed it categorically, and this came after continuous training and training on playing strategies with the support of my team. Thank God, I was able to raise the flag of my country on a major global platform such as Abu Dhabi Extreme.” The Emirati champion, Balqis Al Hashemi, succeeded in achieving a deserved victory over the Russian player, Odintsova, in the atomweight fight, after the champion won the fight with merit and worthiness thanks to her strong performance. In a statement, Al Hashemi expressed her happiness with this achievement, directing her thanks to the training staff and the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation for their continuous support, noting that the victory did not come out of nowhere, but came as a result of continuous effort and work for months. ” Mr. Tariq Al Bahri, General Manager of Global Vision Sports Management Company, said: “The fifth edition of the Abu Dhabi Championship has proven Extreme is able to reflect the image of Emirati sports, its strength and its ability to prepare and organize professionally thanks to the support of the wise leadership, in addition to the distinguished victories of the UAE champions on the technical level after the victories of Balqis Al Hashemi and Omar Al Suwaidi, in this exceptional type of fights with the participation of elite international players. The championship received unprecedented interaction on websites and social media platforms, and the remarkable public attendance that the championship witnessed confirmed its success and competitions, and that it is an exceptional sports championship in every sense of the word, professional organization, in which those in charge stood by the details of matters, so that the Abu Dhabi Extreme Championship came out in the most beautiful form and image, and we received great praise from the Abu Dhabi Extreme players who also confirmed this distinction.
The competitions witnessed a total of 14 strong fights with the participation of 28 male and female athletes from 16 countries who competed in 7 Jiu-Jitsu fights, 7 grappling fights, including 5 preliminary fights, 5 fights in the main card, and two fights for the joint main event in addition to two fights in the main event.
The main event in grappling fights brought together the American champion Faber and the Brazilian Fernandez after 18 years since their last meeting in a mixed martial arts fight, and Faber was able to defeat him for the second time after an exciting and brilliant fight Banner.
The main Jiu-Jitsu match witnessed the victory of Brazilian Rayron Gracie, who represents the fourth generation of the famous Gracie family that developed and spread the sport of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil and the world, over his compatriot Marcos Carosino. This is the second time that Gracie has won in the Abu Dhabi Extreme Championship held in Brazil. In the main event match in grappling, American Shad Mendes was able to defeat Brazilian Diego Brandao, and in the Jiu-Jitsu match, Portuguese Pedro Ramalho defeated Swedish Max Lindblad.
The rest of the matches on the main card resulted in the victory of Iranian Pouya Rahmani over Egyptian Abdel Wahab in the “heavyweight” match, Brazilian De Menezes over Tunisian Boudhinna in the “middleweight” match, Brazilian Jonatas Gracie over Turkish Burak Saraman in the “Walter” weight match, and Brazilian Felipe Bezerra over Russian Vladimir Belium in the heavyweight match.
In the preliminary matches, Kazakhstani Selkhan Bulatbek defeated Dutchman Imad Ahmadin in the “Walter” weight, Greek Zafiria Panagiotarakou defeated Jordanian Yara Qaqish in the “Atom” weight, and Lebanese Abi Saghir defeated Chinese Sahi in the “Walter” weight.
