Crisis? Financial hardships? Lack of incentives in the sport? Well, in Abu Dhabi, capitol of the United Arab Emirates, a country overseen by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, such expressions are only heard on the international news shows.
Led by the president's brother, beloved Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, one of the Emirates' main projects now is to become the world capitol of sports. As the most recent example, the country managed to bring from Japan the traditional World Cub Cup, to take place in the Middle East between 2009 and 2010.
Proving its reputation as the sport of the future, Jiu-Jitsu too has reaped fruit thanks to the Prince's empathy. In a cerimony of praise, Sheikh Mohammed rewarded the athletes of his country who conquered medals at the last Abu Dhabi JJ Cup, organized by Brazilian Carlao Santos on May 9th and 10th, and which was covered by GRACIEMAG. At the rewards cerimony, the sheikh showed signs of why he is reputed to be generous: 680 thousand dollars was divided up among the champions from his country. "More than one million reais for Jiu-Jitsu athletes is rare, worthy of a news bulletin. But the main thing is the affection and attention His Highness has for Jiu-Jitsu. This lets us carry on fighting for the art's growth not just here, but so that it starts becoming known around the world," explains Carlao to GRACIEMAG.
The report on the saga of Jiu-Jitsu in the United Arab Emirates, part of the 10 year anniversary celebrations of the no-gi ADCC tournament, is in GRACIEMAG 136.
