Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, December 12, 2024: You know when Alexandre Nascimento, the head of instructors, is coming. He arrives with a roar with his Harley Dyna 1800cc Low Rider growling.
A biker since his teenage days, the tattoo-sleeved Alexandre is one of the driving forces at the inaugural OCA-JJAU jiu-jitsu development programme for coaches and referees at the Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Academy in Abu Dhabi.
And like his bike, Alexandre, a black belt with 24 years in jiu-jitsu says the sport is riding high in Asia, as he watches 123 coaches and referees from 36 Asian National Olympic Committees participate in the five-day camp.
“I was there 10 years ago, in 2014, when jiu-jitsu made its debut at the Asian Beach Games in Phuket, Thailand. At the time there were only a handful of countries which had athletes in the sport. Now, when I look around, there are 36 National Olympic Committees who have sent coaches and referees here. It shows how fast the sport has grown in such a short space of time,” Alexandre points out.
Jiu-jitsu has been on the Asian Games programme since 2018 Jakarta and Palembang. At the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2022, 189 competitors, men and women, from 28 countries and territories participated.
According to Alexandre, Asia is even leading the rest of the world in jiu-jitsu, referring to last month’s World Championships in Crete, Greece, where a number of athletes from Asia had podium finishes.
“Thanks to the Olympic Council of Asia, we have this development camp for coaches and referees, and I’m confident that all of them will return home reinvigorated with new ideas and techniques,” added Alexandre.
