UAE, Zamzam Al Hammadi wins gold during the IMMAF Youth World Championships in Mubadala Arena at Zayed Sports City, Abu Dhabi. Khushnum Bhandari / The National
UAE, Zamzam Al Hammadi wins gold during the IMMAF Youth World Championships in Mubadala Arena at Zayed Sports City, Abu Dhabi. Khushnum Bhandari / The National
UAE, Zamzam Al Hammadi wins gold during the IMMAF Youth World Championships in Mubadala Arena at Zayed Sports City, Abu Dhabi. Khushnum Bhandari / The National
UAE, Zamzam Al Hammadi wins gold during the IMMAF Youth World Championships in Mubadala Arena at Zayed Sports City, Abu Dhabi. Khushnum Bhandari / The National

Al Hammadi sisters shine for UAE on Day 2 of MMA Youth World Championships


Amith Passela
  • English
  • Arabic

The Al Hammadi sisters, Zamzam and Ghala, emerged as the stars of Day 2 at the International Mixed Martial Art Federation’s Youth World Championships at the Mubadala Arena on Thursday.

They were both crowned world champions as the UAE took their overnight tally to three golds, four silvers and four bronze in the presence of Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Council.

Zamzam, 15, scored a unanimous points decision over Ukrainian Kira Voliashchenko in the 52-kilogramme girls' final, after her younger sister Ghala, 14, overcame Yezin Suna of India in the girls' 40kg final.

“To win the world title and receive the medal from His Highness Sheikh Khaled and with my sister winning gold earlier is indeed a special day in my life,” the Abu Dhabi schoolgirl told The National.

“I’m really happy with the performances and the results of both me and my sister, because such achievements are hard to earn. It was the first time for us to compete at this level.”

Zamzam and Ghala also now hold two world titles, having won golds in the IJJF Jiu-Jitsu Youth World Championship.

Proudly displaying both the jiu-jitsu and MMA medals around her neck, Zamzam pointed to jiu-jitsu, which she has been practising for more than 11 years, as the foundation for her success in MMA.

“Everyone in my family practises jiu-jitsu. I was into ballet at the beginning and when I got into jiu-jitsu, I started to skip ballet classes to spend more time in jiu-jitsu,” the eldest of the two girls, and two boys, in the family said.

“I had a lot of success in jiu-jitsu and was selected for the UAE youth team. I have been training in MMA only for a year but now I want to pursue both martial arts for my country.”

Zamzam got the better of American Lariah Gill and Ireland's Olivia Babiarz, both by submission to reach the final.

Saeed Al Nuaimi and Salem Al Hamoud had to settle for silvers in the boys' 57kg and 77.1kg weights respectively.

Al Nuaimi lost by submission to Mukhammad Saidzoda of Tajikistan, while Al Hamoud suffered a similar defeat to Bulgarian Martin Petkov.

Hamdan Al Najar, Saif Al Hammadi and Omar Al Raeesi clinched bronze in the 48kg, 52kg and 57kg respectively.

Ukraine racked up four finals on the day to raise their tally to seven golds, followed by Tajikistan on four, UAE, USA and Ireland on 3, and Armenia, Uzbekistan and Poland on two each. Kazakhstan, Britain, Spain, Israel, Lebanon, and Bulgaria are on one apiece.

Global state-owned investor ranking by size

1.

United States

2.

China

3.

UAE

4.

Japan

5

Norway

6.

Canada

7.

Singapore

8.

Australia

9.

Saudi Arabia

10.

South Korea

ABU DHABI ORDER OF PLAY

Starting at 10am:

Daria Kasatkina v Qiang Wang

Veronika Kudermetova v Annet Kontaveit (10)

Maria Sakkari (9) v Anastasia Potapova

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova v Ons Jabeur (15)

Donna Vekic (16) v Bernarda Pera 

Ekaterina Alexandrova v Zarina Diyas

Results

7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (Dirt) 1,600m; Winner: RB Kings Bay, Abdul Aziz Al Balushi (jockey), Helal Al Alawi (trainer)

7.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: AF Ensito, Fernando Jara, Mohamed Daggash

8pm: Maiden (PA) Dh70,000 (D) 1,400m; Winner: AF Sourouh, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel

8.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh70,000 (D) 1,800m; Winner: Baaher, Fabrice Veron, Eric Lemartinel

9pm: Maiden (PA) Dh70,000 (D) 2,000m; Winner: Mootahady, Antonio Fresu, Eric Lemartinel

9.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh70,000 (D) 2,000m; Winner: Dubai Canal, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar

10pm: Al Ain Cup – Prestige (PA) Dh100,000 (D) 2,000m; Winner: Harrab, Bernardo Pinheiro, Majed Al Jahouri

Generational responses to the pandemic

Devesh Mamtani from Century Financial believes the cash-hoarding tendency of each generation is influenced by what stage of the employment cycle they are in. He offers the following insights:

Baby boomers (those born before 1964): Owing to market uncertainty and the need to survive amid competition, many in this generation are looking for options to hoard more cash and increase their overall savings/investments towards risk-free assets.

Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980): Gen X is currently in its prime working years. With their personal and family finances taking a hit, Generation X is looking at multiple options, including taking out short-term loan facilities with competitive interest rates instead of dipping into their savings account.

Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996): This market situation is giving them a valuable lesson about investing early. Many millennials who had previously not saved or invested are looking to start doing so now.

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%206.4-litre%20V8%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E8-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E470bhp%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E637Nm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDh375%2C900%20(estimate)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Yahya Al Ghassani's bio

Date of birth: April 18, 1998

Playing position: Winger

Clubs: 2015-2017 – Al Ahli Dubai; March-June 2018 – Paris FC; August – Al Wahda

ELIO

Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett

Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina

Rating: 4/5

Ferrari 12Cilindri specs

Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12

Power: 819hp

Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm

Price: From Dh1,700,000

Available: Now

2.0

Director: S Shankar

Producer: Lyca Productions; presented by Dharma Films

Cast: Rajnikanth, Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson, Sudhanshu Pandey

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

The specs
  • Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
  • Power: 640hp
  • Torque: 760nm
  • On sale: 2026
  • Price: Not announced yet
SPECS
%3Cp%3EEngine%3A%20Twin-turbocharged%204-litre%20V8%3Cbr%3EPower%3A%20625%20bhp%3Cbr%3ETorque%3A%20630Nm%3Cbr%3EOn%20sale%3A%20Now%3Cbr%3EPrice%3A%20From%20Dh974%2C011%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
MATCH INFO

Fixture: Ukraine v Portugal, Monday, 10.45pm (UAE)

TV: BeIN Sports

Dubai Rugby Sevens, December 5 -7

World Sevens Series Pools

A – Fiji, France, Argentina, Japan

B – United States, Australia, Scotland, Ireland

C – New Zealand, Samoa, Canada, Wales

D – South Africa, England, Spain, Kenya

Honeymoonish
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Elie%20El%20Samaan%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENour%20Al%20Ghandour%2C%20Mahmoud%20Boushahri%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA

Starring: Nader Abd Alhay, Majd Eid, Ramzi Maqdisi

Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser

Rating: 4.5/5

Company Profile

Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Updated: August 04, 2023, 9:58 AM`