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MMA – Bahrain’s young mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters won multiple matches in their respective preliminary round competitions yesterday but came up short in booking berths in their elimination rounds in the sixth IMMAF Youth World Championships, currently being held in Al Ain, the UAE.
Sayed Alawi Abdulla, Yousuf Mercer, and Hamad Almehri were all competing in the Youth B programme for participants aged 14 and 15. Sayed won two of his matches while Yousif and Hamad claimed one victory apiece.
The quartet 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 Sheikh 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 B, the competitors are also taking to the cage in Youth A (16 and 17 years old), Youth C (12 and 13), and Youth D (10 and 11) events.
In yesterday’s Youth B contests, Sayed won twice in Group A of the 44kg weight class. He first suffered an armbar submission defeat to Saif Alblooshi of the UAE, but then bounced back with his own submission victory, by anaconda, against Alfie Carroll of Ireland. Sayed then won by split decision against Samvel Avetisyan of Armenia. He finished second in his group table but missed out on the quarter-finals.
In the 52kg division, Yousuf was in Group E where he began his campaign with a triangle armbar submission victory against Luca Scott of England. He later lost to Luke Fitzpatrick of Ireland by split decision, which cost him a place in the eighth-finals.
Hamad, meanwhile, took to the cage in Group C of the 40kg division. He first lost by guillotine choke submission to Uzbekistan’s Shokhjakhon Maribjonov, and then suffered an armbar submission defeat to Bunedjon Saiduniev of Tajikistan. Hamad then won his concluding contest against Zorik Hovhannisyan of Armenia by a forfeit.
Also yesterday, Bahrain’s Shawqi Alsada competed in Group C of the 48kg class. He lost his first match against Sunatullo Navruzov of Tajikistan by an Americana submission. He then had a no contest against Senan Horgan of Ireland before losing to Kordian Chybinski of Poland by a knockout in his last outing.
Bahrain’s fighters are back in action tomorrow in the Youth A programme. Saood Salman will be contesting the 52.2kg division and Aseel Almutawa and Hamad Mohseni will both be in the 56.7kg competition.
The kingdom’s young MMA athletes are coached by Renat Iusubov and Sharap Gitinov, while the national team administrator in Al Ain is Ebrahim Aun.
The championship, sanctioned by the International MMA Federation (IMMAF), runs until Sunday.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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