Al Ain kicked off the UAE’s jiu-jitsu season in style when they topped both the men’s and women’s medals table in the first leg of the inaugural President’s Cup at the Ipic Arena in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
The men’s team from the Garden City club won eight of the 19 gold medals up for grabs, while the women racked up seven golds and three silvers from the 10 weight categories.
The Hanaei sisters — both members of the women’s junior national team — led the charge for Al Ain. Maha, 16, beat Mahra Al Mansoori to take the gold in the 57-kilogramme weight final. Younger sibling Mahra, 15, outclassed Mehta Sultan in the 52kg.
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“I couldn’t have wished for a better start to the new season. It is good to know where I stand at the start of the season,” Maha said.
“The President’s Cup is a new and wonderful new addition exclusively for Emiratis. It is like a local league — like in other sports such as football, volleyball, and so on, playing for a championship trophy.
Maha also said the competition provided the opportunity for Emirati women, such as herself, to test their skills and abilities against each other.
“Obviously the competition is not tough, as it’s in an open event, but everyone who turns up wants to win,” she added.
“This is of course a great opportunity for us to get some valuable match practice while it also provides the opportunities to unearth new Emirati talents.”
Another set of siblings who struck gold for Al Ain were Saeed and Khalid Hajhmdou.
Saeed is also a member of the junior national team and has been earmarked as a medal prospect at the top flight.
“Here the important thing was to win for the team,” he said. “I think we have done remarkably well to top both the men and women’s medals table.”
Saeed, however, warned that there was more to come from his team.
“We expect the bar to be raised for the second and third legs,” he said. “We’ll return better prepared for the next leg because we want to win this Cup.
“It means a lot for us and for Al Ain.”
[ apassela@thenational.ae ]
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