Amal Amjahid celebrated her eighth gold medal that kept up her amazing undefeated run at Jiu-Jitsu International Federation (JJIF) competitions.
She beat Belgian teammate Fran Vanderstukken by advantage points 2-0 in the 57kg final at the JJIF World Championship at Mubadala Arena in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
Amjahid first appeared at the JJIF Worlds in 2015 and stretched her winning streak to five finals wins from five.
In-between she won two golds in her weight and the absolute division at the World Games in Colombia in 2017 and another gold at the World Mastership Games in South Korea in September.
Amjahid had an easy passage to the final. She began with a 2-0 points victory over Galina Duvanova of Kazakhstan before winning her next two contests by submission, against Sandra Mancera and Meshi Rosenfield.
“It was a difficult final to win because she’s my teammate and friend, and there was a lot of emotions,” Amjahid said after her victory over Vanderstukken.
“Overall, the competition was strategic and physically and technically very demanding.
“I would like to thank my father and coach [Houry Khalid] for nurturing me from a very young age. My father has been a coach and I was seven when I first started.
“I also now help him in his work. I have an older brother who is a referee and a younger sister, but she has yet to get into the sport. So, jiu-jitsu runs in the family.”
Amjahid is a second-year student at the Henallux University in Namur in the Wallonia region doing a masters in sociology.
“I am working with my father in the national association for education in sports. So, it is training, work and studying, for me.
“When I complete my studies I want to work on social projects. I love to help people. I come from a family that found life very hard but we still manage to live a decent life. I understand the difficulties of life.”
Amjahid won gold and silver medal in the brown/black belt in her last two appearances at the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship. She first took part in the World Pro in 2103 and won a bronze in the blue belt.
“Abu Dhabi is one of my favourite venues and I plan to return for the World Pro in April 2020,” she added.
The seven golds that were on offer in the women’s division were shared by seven countries – Belgium, Canada, Poland, France, Thailand, Kazakhstan and South Korea.
Ni Ni Vicky Hoang overcame Laetitia Boes of France 4-0 to claim Canada’s gold in 48kg.
“This is my first visit to Abu Dhabi and first gold in the Worlds,” she said. “I had to settle for silver last year in Sweden and now I got gold.
“The competition was tough but good. This is a world championship and you do not expect anything lesser at this level. Now the plan is to return to Abu Dhabi for the World Pro in April.”
Magdalena Loska of Poland also won her first gold at the worlds. She beat Yara Kakish of Jordan on the referee's decision after a 0-0 deadlock in the 70kg category.
Thailand’s Kanjutha Phattaraboonsorn took the 45kg gold from Samantha de la Costa of the Philippines; Moldir Mekenbayeva of Kazakhstan won the 52kg final against Polina Krupskaia by submission.
Sung Ki-ra of South Korea forced a submission on Rony Nisimiyan of Israel in the 53kg final and Eva Bessini of France bagged the 70kg-plus gold after her win over Tereza de Souza of Hungary.
