Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Jiu-Jitsu World Tour fourth leg in the capital began on Friday with the purple, brown and black belts [male and female] at the Mubadala Arena for a full day of skillful fights on the nine mats.

The UAE players won a total of 11 medals including three gold, three silver and five bronze in different weight and belt categories

After making it to the finals of the Masters 1 black belt, 110kg category, Ricardo Evangelista said: “First of all I would like to thank UAEJJF, my coaches and team mates at Commando Group, without them this would not be possible. I am looking forward to the finals tomorrow against Nei Nascimento, I was looking forward to this tournament after I won the gold in Rio Grand Slam, so it is great to come back to my second home in Abu Dhabi and hopefully win the gold again.”

Yara Kakish from Jordan won the gold medal in the Female Purple belt 70kg category. “it was a great event, it’s a huge experience, we look forward to it every year. You can see every year more and more players are signing up and it is becoming more difficult. We are training super hard to win and thank God today I got the medal and we look forward to the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship in April,” said Kakish.

Emirati Saoud Al Hammadi, who won Gold in the 85kg Master1 purple belt category, said, “Abu Dhabi Grand Slam is really an amazing event, it is at the highest level and many players from the clubs get the chance to compete against top level players. I’m very happy to win the gold and I dedicate it to my teammates, coach and club.”

The event was attended by Sheikh Zayed Bin Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abdulmunem Al Hashemi, Chairman of UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation, President of Jiu-Jitsu Asian Union and Senior Vice President of Jiu-Jitsu International Federation and Mohammad Bin Dalmouj Al Dhaheri, board member of UAEJJF.