UAE soldiers in JJ European
Objective is to acquire competition experience
Gabriel Menezes
Even with sign-ups for the European Jiu-Jitsu Championship over, GRACIEMAG.com is still keeping up with the names to stand out on the competitors list for the competition set to take place from January 30 to February 1st, at the Casal Vistoso Sports Complex, in Lisbon, Portugal.
The news is that for the first time in the history of the European Championship 13 soldiers from the United Arab Emirates army will be present in the competition, under the command of Carlao Santos.
“We’re taking 13 of them to fight at the European. They are security personnel for the sheikh and soldiers from the United Arab Emirates’ special forces. They’re coming along well; they’re all still white and blue belts, though. We’re going there to get experience, since this will be the first time they fight abroad, with our focus on the Professional Worlds here in Abu Dhabi, on May 1st,” said Carlao.
Although most of the athletes are beginners, the Carioca black belt reminds us that for their being military men, they are all tough athletes. “The guys are in the military. So we know what their regiment is like, right? They have great discipline. These 13 soldiers are just training Jiu-Jitsu. Their mission now is this, to work on Jiu-Jitsu 24 hours a day, morning, afternoon and evening. Physical conditioning, positions, hard training, eating right… whatever they need as far as vitamins goes they have. They’re all really excited,” stated Carlao, who further explained that the soldiers becan their training in October of last year.
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