UAE's only black belt fighter Faisal Al Ketbi will be taking part in as many events as he can to prepare for the Asian Beach Games in Thailand.
And there will be no dearth in competitions for the talented Emirati with the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation announcing a packed calendar for the 2014-15 season, on Tuesday.
The UAE team will be participating in the 4th Asian Beach Games to be held in Phuket, Thailand in November and Al Ketbi sees it as a great opportunity to tune-up for the event.
"I will be participating in as many events as I can in the UAE to prepare for the Asian Beach Games,” Al Ketbi said on the sidelines of the official announcement of the new calendar for the 2014-15 season by the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation, at the St.Regis Hotel in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
Faisal Al Ketbi is a five-time gold medallist in three different belts — blue, purple and brown — in the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship.
Since the Championship began in 2009, Faisal Al Ketbi won the gold in the blue belt category in 2009 and 2010. The 26-year-old won silver in the blue belt segment in 2011. Al Ketbi then went on to win the gold in the purple belt category in 2012 before winning back-to-back gold medals in the brown belt segment in 2013 and 2014.
Al Ketbi said that the UAE will be looking to return with a big medal haul from the Asian Beach Games. "The priority is to win as many medals as possible. I will also be concentrating on my segment and I hope I can do my country proud,” said Al Ketbi.
Jiu-Jitsu was a late addition to the 4th Asian Beach Games and will be held over two days on November 12-13 at Patong Beach. The official opening ceremony of the Games is November 14 and it will run until November 23 with 26 sports and 168 events.
There will be two Jiu-Jitsu disciplines at the Asian Beach Games — the Ne Waza Ju-Jitsu (BJJ) and Show System.
There will be 12 events in total — Ne Waza JJ men: -60kg, -70kg, -80kg, -90kg, +90kg and Open (6 categories); Ne Waza JJ women: -50kg, -60kg and -70kg (3 categories); Show Team – men/women/mixed (3 categories).
Source: Khaleej Times