Abu Dhabi: Abdul Moneim Al Hashemi, President of the UAE and Asian Jiu-Jitsu Federations and First Vice President of the Jiu-Jitsu International Federation, discussed ways to enhance joint cooperation in the field of sports with Fernando Lus Lemos Igreja, Brazilian Ambassador to the UAE.
The sides agreed to collaborate on organising the world's largest jiu-jitsu training session at Brazil's pavilion in Expo 2020 Dubai on November 15, 2021, on the sidelines of the event, while coordinating with relevant authorities to ensure precautionary measures are followed.
This came during a meeting between Al Hashemi and Igreja at the headquarters of the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation (UAEJJF) in Abu Dhabi, in the presence of Rafael Nascimento, Director of the Brazil Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, and UAEJJF Secretary-General Fahad Ali Al Shamsi.
In a statement to the Emirates News Agency (WAM), Al Hashemi said that the UAE-Brazil relations are strong, and have seen significantly at the political, economic, sports and cultural levels, and that jiu-jitsu is quite popular in Brazil, cradling over 2.5 million practitioners who are officially registered with the Federation, and over 22,000 academies specialised in training fighters.
As the world's largest jiu-jitsu sponsor, the federation organised an event where its students showcased their skills before Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro during his visit to the UAE in October 2019, he added.
Key role of the art
He highlighted the key role of jiu-jitsu in enhancing relations between their countries, especially since the UAE contracted over 700 Brazilian coaches to supervise its plans to develop the sport, and organises around 18 tournaments annually across Brazil.
Al Hashemi said, "We must leverage jiu-jitsu, which has become a culture of UAE society used to strengthen its relations with Brazil and various countries around the world, because sport serves as a pillar of enhancing the UAE's soft power overseas, and this is aligns with the strategy of the UAEJJF, which organises over 80 tournaments around the world."
For his part, Igreja said, "Building on the strong relations between the UAE and Brazil, we have put forward a few initiatives to support the success of Expo 2020 in Dubai, which we are confident will be the largest and most important in the world."
"Since the UAEJJF organised the world's largest training session for jiu-jitsu in the world, which was added to the Guinness World Records in 2015, we sought to organise a larger training session to enable the UAE to break its previous Guinness World Record, and further promote Expo 2020 Dubai as the background for this important event, especially that we have set up a large pavilion that stretches across over 4,000 metres. We are also working to collaborate with the Federation to host jiu-jitsu activities during Expo 2020 Dubai," he added.
Building on the strong relations between the UAE and Brazil, we have put forward a few initiatives to support the success of Expo 2020 in Dubai, which we are confident will be the largest and most important in the world.
Rafael Nascimento, Director of the Brazil Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, said that he is confident that Expo 2020 Dubai will be the most successful event of its kind, noting that it will constitute the world's largest victory over the COVID-19 pandemic, and that, through it, the UAE will lead the world towards a full recovery across all fields.
Al Shamsi said, "Our Brazilian friends chose 15th November to hold the world's largest jiu-jitsu training session on the sidelines of Expo 2020 Dubai because it is a historic day in Brazil coinciding with the Proclamation of the Republic of Brazil on 15th November, 1989, and we are happy with that because we have previously celebrated the UAE National Day in Brazil on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam."
