SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD Bahraini jiu jitsu athlete Abdulla AlShaikh, who won a gold medal last Saturday in the Abu Dhabi Jiu Jitsu Pro (AJP) Tour’s Fujairah International Pro-GI tournament in the UAE has taken his new-found celebrity status in his stride.
Abdulla, who defeated an Emirati opponent in the Youth Men’s GI/White/55kg category in Fujairah, was competing in his first-ever tournament after taking up the sport just a year ago.
“I’m very proud to have won gold in the first competition I ever competed in,” Abdulla told the GDN in an exclusive interview. “My family is very happy, very proud of me too. I won both my fights pretty easily.”
Abdulla, who trains at Bahraini jiu jitsu star Ali Monfaradi’s martial arts academy, added that he had stuck to the basics as he competed in Fujairah.
“I did whatever I do in training in the competition,” he explained. “I tried not to over-complicate anything.”
Although he has been inundated with celebratory calls and messages from friends and extended family, the teenager, who studies at Britus International School, has not allowed the adulation to go to his head.
“I have to remain focused,”Abdulla said. “I am currently training for three major tournaments that are coming up soon: a couple of AJP Tour tournaments in the UAE and Rome, in September and October respectively, and the Abu Dhabi World Jiu Jitsu Festival in November.”
His training has been supervised since day one by Monfaradi, who the teenager describes as a ‘very good coach’.
Monfaradi, himself, told the GDN that he had had a good feeling about the teenager’s potential on the first occasion he saw him.
“He is a unique talent,” he said. “But he is also very focused and very dedicated and trains very hard.”
Abdulla said he trains twice a day, with no exceptions.
“The timings can vary,” he added. “Depending on my schedule, I train in the morning and again in the evening. On other days, I do two sessions in the evening.”
His intense training routine hasn’t affected his grades in school, Abdulla stressed.
“I’m a good student and I consistently get good grades,” he added. “I have the same focus on my studies as I do on my jiu jitsu training.”
Winning a gold medal in their first appearance in an international tournament – which also happens to be the first one they’re ever competing in – is every athlete’s dream, but Abdulla downplayed his achievement.
“As I said earlier, it’s all about sticking to the basics,” he explained. “I just let my training take over in both my fights. The rest just happened automatically.”