Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, December 15, 2024: The Olympic Council of Asia’s first single sport – jiu-jitsu - development programme for coaches and referees came to an emotional end with all participants bidding farewell to new-found friendships forged across the continent on Sunday, December 15.
“I’m both happy and sad today. Happy at the prospect that jiu-jitsu will grow in Asia, sad because each morning I saw the spirit of sport at this academy and that it has now come to an end,” said General Secretary of the Jiu-Jitsu Asian Union Fahed Al Shamsi at the closing ceremony.
A total of 123 coaches and referees from 36 National Olympic Committees across all five zones of Asia had joined in the five-day development camp from December 11-15 at the Fatima Bint Mubarak Academy in Abu Dhabi.
All participants were given a certificate signed by OCA Director General Husain Al Musallam and the JJAU General Secretary Fahed.
“On behalf of the OCA, I extend our appreciation to everyone who made this programme a huge success. I thank all the coaches and referees for the dedication shown and I hope these last few days will benefit your careers,” said Wissam Trkmani, OCA’s Director of Development and NOC Relations, in his closing address.
Head instructor Alexandre Nascimento urged all participants to put the knowledge learned in Abu Dhabi to good use. “Your duty when you go back home is to spread this knowledge you have learned here.”
Jordanian referee Abdallah Hibar Nabas praised the OCA and the JJAU for organising this programme. He said: “I have taken part in many workshops and seminars previously. But those were just for a couple of hours and then we went home. This time we were all together for five days, and it makes a huge difference interacting with a group of people, especially as I make friends easily.”
His view was echoed by Lao female coach Toukky Sengdakee who said: “This was a wonderful chance to learn about the latest techniques as well as meet people from all parts of Asia. I’m sad it’s over.”
Running side-by-side with the technical and practical classes in jiu-jitsu, all coaches and referees sat through 12 sessions on the OCA’s four-pronged ‘Guarding the Asian Games’ blueprint – Safeguarding, Prevention of Manipulation of Competition, Olympic Values and Anti-Doping.
“It was a great opportunity to reinforce all these ideals over the past few days,” said Sabine Fakhoury, OCA’s Gender Equity and Safeguarding Manager. “One of the key messages imparted in Safeguarding was ‘this is your locker room, you decide what happens inside the locker room’.”
It was the first time the OCA focused on a single sport – jiu-jitsu – for its development programmes which started in 2022. Since then, this is the fourth such event where the OCA aims at fostering the growth and development of sports throughout Asia.
Last month a similar five-day camp was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for 111 coaches and referees from 19 NOCs in Southeast Asia and East Asia, focusing on four sports – archery, badminton, swimming and table tennis.
