The Peninsula
Qatar Wrestling Federation (QWF) president has hailed the visit of globally acclaimed martial arts expert Rigan Machado who headlined two Jiu-Jitsu events at separate venues in Doha.
Machado, 56, is an 8th degree red and white belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, earning his rank under Carlos Gracie, Jr. He was in Doha for five days.
QWF President Sheikh Fahad bin Khalid Al Thani - who was present during the seminar held at Qatar SC and the tournament held at Al Ahli Sports Club - said the Jiu-Jitsu community in Qatar gained a lot from the presence of Machado, a renowned figure in Hollywood movies featuring martial arts.
“Professor Rigan Machado is one of the legendary names in this sport. His presence at our tournaments gave us a huge insight on the latest development of the sport,” Sheikh Fahad told local media.
“We were delighted to have him here. It was fantastic to see the community together learning from the master,” he added.
“He also gave great feedback on the event and was impressed by the level of Jiu-Jitsu in Qatar,” the QWF president said.
“The Qatar Jiu-Jitsu Committee (QJJC) along with the Qatar Wrestling Federation has devised a strategy and a pathway that leads to the Asian Games in China this year. Such tournaments are part of the development tool for our federation which is looking to develop local referees and judges and build a continuous educational program for our managing and technical staff,” Sheikh Fahad said.
“Since being appointed as head coach of the Qatar national team Professor Ismael Bass has been instrumental in building and developing local talent such as Ahmed Al Jehani who showed massive improvements winning medals in various organisations such as AJP and ADCC (held in Jordan) in such a short space of time,” he added.
“He also developed one of the very few Qatari black belts in Sheikh Salman Al Thani,” the QWF president pointed out.
Professor Ismael informed that the two day seminar and tournament was the third major Jiu-Jitsu event held in Qatar. There were athletes from Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait and just about all nationalities living and working in Qatar were represented. There were athletes from the United States of America, United Kingdom,Tunisia, Algeria, and the Philippines besides many Qatari Jiu-Jitsu fans. All in all, there were 100 athletes at the event headlined by Machado.
“We brought in Machado specially for this event. He was here for five days during which he had meetings with the federation officials and athletes currently active in Jiu-Jitsu competitions. He was called as Qatar is preparing for the Asian Games to be held in China later this year. There were seminars that he attended,” Professor Ismael said.
“This was his second visit to Qatar. He was here around eight years ago. He was very impressed with what he saw. When he was here earlier, there were two Jiu-Jitsu schools in Qatar. Now there are eight,” he added.