Sharjah Forum for Martial Sports begins today

Top karate champions from across the world including Steven Da Costa and Stanislav Horuna will share their expertise at the game’s first-ever online Sharjah International Forum for Martial Sports to be held at 8pm on Tuesday.

Sharjah International Forum for Martial Sports will be organised by Sharjah Club for Self-Defense Sports under the auspices of Sharjah Sports Council.

Besides top stars representing different countries of the world, regional champions from Kuwait Salman Abdullah and Mohammad Abdullah also joins the list of speakers.

UAE’s top-ranked karate player Ahmad Salim is among the elite athletes of panel shedding light on the sport.

France’s Da Costa, a gold medallist in the men’s 67 kg event at the 2018 World Karate Championships held in Madrid, is already qualified to represent the nation at the next year’s 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

Rated as one of the top consistent performer for the country, Da Costa won silver at the 2015 European Games held in Baku, and bagged top honours in the men’s kumite 67 kg event at the 2016 European Karate Championships held in Montpelier.

He also brought laurels for France after clinching gold at the 2017 World Games held in Wrocław.

Tuesday’s webinar is the first in a series of four that have been scheduled twice a week and covering the four martial arts of karate, judo, taekwondo and jiu-jitsu.

The coronavirus pandemic has seriously affected life across the globe and the world of sport has been hit hard. All the major sporting events have been called off or postponed.

“This is a unique situation for sport in general, and we’ve got to find a platform to stay relevant and in touch with the possible challenges that are lying ahead.

“In addition, we have so many other challenges that our fighters are going through at this moment, and a discussion on this can only help everyone,” said Ahmad Abdul Rahman Al Owais, CEO of Sharjah Club for Self-Defense Sports and chief organiser of the webinar.

“With martial artists everywhere taking their classes to online formats, we took this opportunity to help inspire with words of wisdom and at home techniques from some of the top practitioners around the world.”

“The goal of setting up the forum is to develop culture and sports knowledge among players and coaches,” he added.

Ukraine’s Horuna hogged the limelight after winning gold at the 2017 World Games and European Championships in the 75-kg division of the competitions.

Horuna settled for silver after losing the final to Bahman Askari of Iran at the Karate 1-Premier League held in Salzburg in March before the COVID-19 halted the global sports competitions.

Over 600 competitors from 88 countries competed at the 2020 Karate 1-Premier League Salzburg.

The tally represented a considerable increase with the previous event since 513 competitors from 79 countries took part in the Karate 1-Premier League Dubai.