BANGKOK: The UAE Jiu-Jitsu National Team won an impressive 15 medals at the Grand Prix Thailand Open 2024 over the weekend, comprising five gold, three silver and seven bronze.

The event in Bangkok was considered by the team’s management as ideal preparation for other major international events, particularly the Jiu-Jitsu World Championship in Greece in November.

The opening day of the championship was dedicated to the women’s category, where the UAE national team repeated their impressive showing achieved at the Jiu-Jitsu Asian Championship in Abu Dhabi in May.

Among the winners were Balqees Alhashmi (54 kg) who clinched gold and Aysha Alshamsi (45 kg) silver. Asma Alhosani (52 kg), Shamma Alkalbani (63 kg) and Maitha Shraim (48 kg) secured bronze medals.

“I’m proud to have reached the podium,” said Alhashmi. “Our hard work and intense preparations paid off. We’ll keep training with the same determination, especially for the Jiu-Jitsu World Championship in Greece to maintain our title for the fifth year in a row.”

The male athletes who took to the mats on the second day were equally successful, collectively capturing 10 medals. Khalid Alblooshi (62 kg), Mahdi Alawlaqi (77 kg), Saeed Alkubaisi (85 kg) and Omar Alsuwaidi (56 kg) secured gold on Sunday.

Mayed Alshehhi (62 kg) and Rashed Alshehhi (56 kg) won silver, while Hazza Farhan (over 94 kg), Saeed Alketbi (56 kg), Sultan Alhosani (77 kg), and Mohamed Alsuwaidi (69 kg) took bronze.

“We are thrilled with our performance and proud to win a good number of medals despite the tough competition,” Alblooshi said. “We look forward to keeping up this strong performance, using this experience to continue our physical and mental development.”

Mohamed Salem Al-Dhaheri, vice chairman of the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation, said: “This year’s Grand Prix Thailand Open featured intense competition with many international stars, raising the championship’s overall level. Our national team’s performance was commendable, with athletes reaching the podium in multiple weight categories.

“This success reflects the hard work and tireless efforts of our technical staff in developing the competitors’ skills and the complete commitment of our athletes to perform their best on the mat.

“Competing against the world’s top athletes significantly enhanced our team’s experience, providing valuable insights that will enrich their preparations for upcoming championships. It also highlighted areas for improvement, ensuring that the team emerges stronger and more determined to win future titles.”

Yasser Al-Qubaisi, the team’s administrator, said: “We made sure to include experienced athletes as well as talented fresh faces in the national team, and they have proven their potential. This is part of the UAEJJF’s efforts to expand our roster across various weight categories and boost our competitiveness on the international stage.

“We are confident that these new talents will continue to develop, grow, and gain the experience needed to reach the podium in future competitions.”

Sydney: David Warner’s 15-year international career came to an anti-climactic end on Tuesday as Australia were dumped out of the T20 World Cup in excruciating fashion.

Australia and Warner could only watch on powerless as Afghanistan instead reached the semifinals by beating Bangladesh by a nail-biting eight runs.

Australia’s fate had hung in the balance after India defeated them by 24 runs in St. Lucia on a day of high drama.

The 37-year-old opening batsman Warner had always said the World Cup in the United States and Caribbean would be his farewell to international cricket.

He couldn’t have imagined going out quite like this.

The combative Warner stood tall at the top of the Australian order ever since his international debut in January 2009, and as opening partners came and went.

He hangs up his pads as arguably Australia’s greatest three-format player. He is the country’s leading run-scorer in T20 cricket with 3,277 from 110 games.

Warner exited a glittering 112-Test career in January after plundering 8,786 runs at an average of 44.60, with a strike rate of 70.19. His one-day exploits were equally impressive, crunching 6,932 runs from 161 matches.

Warner was also one of the most consistent slip fielders in the game, whose name was among the first on the team sheet.

“He is probably our greatest-ever three-format player. He’ll be a loss,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said recently.

“Other people have been gunning for him for a period of time, but for us internally, we’ve seen the great value and what he brings to the table, hence why we’ve kept picking him.”

But for all his exploits on the pitch, Warner made enemies along the way and will forever be remembered for his key role in a notorious ball-tampering scandal in 2018.

Warner was seen as the chief plotter when Cameron Bancroft used sandpaper to scuff the ball before a crude attempt to conceal the evidence down his trousers during a Test in Cape Town.

Along with skipper Steve Smith, Warner was suspended for a year by Cricket Australia, stripped of the vice-captaincy and banned from ever leading the team.

Warner, who will continue to play T20 cricket in leagues around the world and will also be a commentator, admitted this month he would always be tarnished by “Sandpaper-gate.”

“I think it’s going to be inevitable that when people talk about me in 20 or 30 years’ time, there will always be that sandpaper scandal,” he said.

He feels he has been unfairly singled out.

“Whether it’s people who don’t like the Australian cricket team or don’t like me, I’ve always been that person who has copped it,” he added.

For that reason, Warner said he was looking forward to international retirement.

“One can only absorb (so much),” he said. “For me, it’s great to go out knowing I’m not going to cop it anymore.”

Warner was always an assertive presence and his involvement in “Sandpaper-gate” was not a surprise to many.

In June 2013, he was suspended and fined for punching England’s Joe Root in a Birmingham bar on the eve of the Ashes.

“I’m extremely remorseful. I have let my teammates, Cricket Australia, the fans, myself and my family down,” said Warner at the time.

Two months earlier he was similarly contrite after an ugly Twitter spat with two Australian journalists.

Despite the controversies, he kept bouncing back.

Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting said Warner was a tough competitor, but a different person off the field.

“I’ve heard a lot from Davey recently about people making judgments about him from the way they see him play his cricket,” he told reporters at the World Cup.

“Once he’s retired and he makes that next step of life into the media, you’ll see a totally different side to him.”