ABU DHABI: Over $800,000 in cash prizes will be awarded to the winners at the 14th edition of the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship which gets underway at Zayed Sports City on Friday, the organizers have revealed.
The championship is being held under the patronage of Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, president of the UAE, and will feature competitions from Nov.
11 to 19 in a range of belt, age and weight categories. The UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation has organized the event. The opening day will see the contests for children and the Para Jiu-Jitsu athletes.
The weigh-ins took place on Thursday. There are 11 mats set up to allow for many athletes to compete simultaneously. Abdel Moneim Al-Hashemi, chairman of the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation, president of the Ju-Jitsu Asian Union, and senior vice president of the International Jiu-Jitsu Federation, praised the UAE’s leadership for supporting the sport. “The patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, president of the UAE, for the championship, is a badge of honor for the athletes in the UAE and the rest of the world.