MMA – Twelve of the kingdom’s brightest young mixed martial arts (MMA) talents will be flying the Bahrain flag at the 2026 IMMAF Youth World Championships, which get underway today in Abu Dhabi, the UAE.
The Bahrainis are one of 55 youth men’s national teams from all over the world who will be going for gold in the International MMA Federation (IMMAF) event.
More than 1,100 athletes, both men and women, are competing in four age groups.
These are based on the athlete’s birth years, with youth A being for competitors born in 2008 and 2009, youth B for those born in 2010 and 2011, youth C for participants born in 2012 and 2013, and youth D for fighters born in 2014 and 2015.
Bahrain’s youth A fighters include Yousuf Mercer in the bantamweight 61.2kg weight class and Abdulla Qahtan in the featherweight 65.8kg.
The kingdom’s youth B medal hopefuls are Hamad Almehri in the 40kg division, Shawqi Alsada and Abdulla Hussain in the 52kg, and Duaij Ahmed in the 57kg.
The Bahrainis in the youth C contests are Ali Baqlawa and Zayed Almoosa in the 37kg bracket, Mohammad Abubaqr in the 40kg, Khalid Alsaleh in the 44kg, and Rashed Alsaleh in the 52kg. Jassim Abubaqr is the kingdom’s only athlete in youth D, where he will go for gold in the 37kg weight division.
The kingdom’s delegation at the youth worlds is headed by Bahrain MMA Federation (BMMAF) president and IMMAF board member Mohammed Ali Qambar, and it includes the team’s coaches Ebrahim Aun and Alaa Issa Alroghani. Qambar expressed his appreciation to Supreme Council for Youth and Sports first deputy chairman, General Sports Authority (GSA) chairman, and Bahrain Olympic Committee president Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa for his continued support for combat sports, particularly MMA.
He also thanked GSA deputy chairman and Bahrain Combat Sports Council president Shaikh Salman bin Mohammed Al Khalifa for his support to national federations.
Qambar said that Bahrain’s participation in Abu Dhabi forms part of the BMMAF’s efforts to develop young athletes and provide them with experience in international competition, expressing confidence in the team’s readiness to deliver strong performances and represent Bahrain at the high-level event.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))