JEDDAH, 14 May 2007 — After winning the Prince Nawaf ibn Faisal Cup two weeks ago, Al-Wehda claimed another major to end a successful judo season on Thursday by winning the Prince Sultan ibn Fahd Cup in the Kingdom Open Judo Championship for men at Prince Sultan ibn Fahd indoor sport hall in Riyadh. Al-Shabab club clinched the youth title in the tournament.
In winning the men’s championship Wehda brought home five gold medals, two silvers and two bronze medals. Shabab finished second with one gold and two bronzes while third place went to Heraa with one gold and one bronze. Al-Taie placed fourth with one bronze. The Best Player award went to Eissa Majrashi of Heraa club.
The Shabab youth judokas topped the team standings winning three gold medals, two silvers and one bronze. Al-Qadisiya took second place with one gold, two silvers, and three bronzes. Al-Hilal and Al-Ansar were tied for third on one gold, one silver, and one bronze. A delighted Saudi national judo team coach Mohammed Subaai said the competition enjoyed a high level of performance. “Especially with the participation of all the Saudi national team athletes who are Arab and Gulf champions,” he added.
Wehda’s Abdulrahman Al-Hazmi agreed with the coach and said it is the most important championship held here and he was glad with the huge crowd that filled the hall. He said the possibility of cash prizes in future would be most welcome. “The awards are always encouraging.” It happens once annually, he added. But already he is looking forward to the next championship.
Meanwhile, the Saudi team left yesterday for Kuwait to participate in the Asian Judo Championship, which starts tomorrow and ends on Friday. According to Subaai, three Saudis would present the Kingdom in three weight categories. They are Eisa Majrashi in the 60 kg., Abdulrahman Al-Hazmi in the 66kg. and Turki Muneir in the 81 kg.
Despite barely recovering from injury during training before the last championship, Al-Hazmi is confident. “I’ve been working hard for this Asian championship and for too long and I want to bring home the gold medal hopefully,” he said.
Saudi international judo referee Moammar Al-Moammar went ahead of the group to pursue his candidacy for president of the referees committee in the Asian Championship.
The joy in the judo community, meantime, was cut short on Friday with the shocking news of the death of their Qadisiya judoka Ahmed Jiddo. Competing in the under 100 kg weight class, the 27-year old Jiddo was killed in a car accident. He was on the wheel of the car with his wife and son going to Dammam from Al-Jubail when the accident happened. Jiddo died but his wife and son survived. The athletes and Subaai described Jiddo as a very decent judoka and wished his family all the strength they could get to carry on.
