Bahrain’s young mixed martial arts (MMA) athletes Rashed Alsaleh and Ali Baqlawa both claimed victories yesterday in their respective divisions at the IMMAF Youth World Championships 2025, currently taking place in Al Ain, the UAE.
Rashed and Ali were both competing in the event’s Youth C category for participants aged 12 and 13.
Rashed contested the 40kg class, while Ali was fighting amongst the 31kg entrants. Both claimed a win apiece in their preliminary round groups, but neither advanced to their elimination rounds.
Rashed and Ali are part of a 13-fighter Bahrain national team competing in this year’s youth worlds, which are being held under the patronage of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Abu Dhabi Executive Council chairman Shaikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
It features a record participation of more than 1,000 boys and girls representing 60 countries, including Bahrain. Aside from Youth C, the competitors are also taking to the cage in Youth A (16 and 17 years old), Youth B (14 and 15), and Youth D (10 and 11) events.
In the Youth C 40kg division, Rashed was in Group A for the opening round-robin stage. He won by unanimous decision against Tyler Dunne of Ireland, but also had two defeats – first against Ahliddin Salimov of Uzbekistan by unanimous decision and then against Zayed Alteneji of the UAE by submission armbar.
There were five groups in all amongst the 40kg fighters, with only five moving on to the knockout stages.
In the Youth C 31kg division, Ali competed in Group D. He opened his medal bid with a unanimous decision victory against Rashed Almaghrebi of the UAE, but then lost to Mirzoyusuf Umarov of Tajikistan by an armbar submission.
There were four groups in the 31kg preliminaries, with the winners of each moving on to the semi-finals.
Bahrain’s fighters are back in action today in Youth B events. Yousuf Mercer will be competing in the 52kg division, while Mohammed Baqlawa and Shawqi Alsada will be in the 48kg weight class. In the 44kg category will be Bahrain’s Sayed Alawi Abdulla, while Hamad Almehri will be amongst the 40kg entrants.
The kingdom’s young MMA athletes are coached by Renat Iusubov and Sharap Gitinov, while the national team administrator is Ebrahim Aun.
The championship, sanctioned by the International MMA Federation (IMMAF), runs until Sunday.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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