Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Bahraini para-athletes Noora Yusuf Zainal and Rawan Ismaeel AlSaad brought pride to the kingdom after securing medals in the first Arab Open Online Para Poomsae Taekwondo Championship.
Zainal, 17, and AlSaad , 20, who both have Down Syndrome, competed in the virtual competition last month against 19 contestants hailing from five Arab countries.
The duo both trained with Fajar Al-BinAli, founder of Sport to Door Free Spirit Dojang. Zainal, a Hawar International School student, clinched first place with 6.5 points and AlSaad, a sales associate working in Centrepoint, won third with 6.43 points.
Zainal, from Hamad Town, said: “The Championship was fun. I loved it! We are both very happy about the victories and want to continue representing the kingdom and making our parents proud.”
AlSaad added: “We were all watching the championship online at home and were very nervous. I was happy at the end that we both made it and got medals in our first Taekwondo competition.”
The championship was conducted through online submissions of the athletes’ Poomsae performances, which is a pattern of defence-and-attack motions, along with live online assessments of the submissions.
Al-BinAli, who has been representing Bahrain for the past seven years in Taekwondo and is a board member of Bahrain Combat Sports Council, felt Zainal and Al Saad were the ideal candidates for this competition.
She trained them through one-on-one sessions, twice a day, for 12 weeks ahead of the competition using FaceTime and WhatsApp video calls with the support of family members.
“I have seen Rawan and Noora many times before and during practice,” said Al-BinAli, the 2019 US Open and Asian Cities champion. “They train in my club with my long time coaches Master Waseem Ahmed and Master Adel Al-Shamlan. They always showed good physical skills along with the will to improve and outperform other students, who unlike them, do not struggle with a disability.
“I thought it was a good opportunity to benchmark Noora and Rawan against their Arab peers and to expose them for the first time to the feel of Poomsae competitions in a friendly setting as both the training and the competition took place from the comfort of their own homes.
“I am honoured that they are the first students from our club to become medal winners and the very first para-athletes in Bahrain to win medals in any form of martial arts!”
The aim of this championship was to make its initial steps towards inclusion of specially-abled athletes into competitive Taekwondo and to gauge performance levels as well as the actual numbers of participating special athletes in the Arab region.
Al-BinAli added: “I am a true believer in inclusion in sport. Being an athlete myself, I have been supported by my employers in my development as a Taekwondo athlete. The support has helped me grow from a regional to an internationally accomplished athlete, medalling last year with silver at the World Beach Taekwondo Championships. This was my highest accomplishment till date and the first time that a female from the GCC made it to the world podium in Taekwondo.
“I hope that the same kind of attention and support can be provided by socially conscious companies to children with disabilities to help them progress in their sports at an international level. I think in martial arts we have good potential to see outstanding results from Bahraini para-athletes and I hope that through our participation we managed to raise the required level of awareness and interest around this.
“I believe Zainal and AlSaad have set themselves as role models for others in pursuit of this sport.”
Zainal and AlSaad started practicing the martial arts sport two years ago and have both represented Bahrain in previous competitions. Zainal was an athletics leader in the 2019 Global Youth Summit in Abu Dhabi, has achieved a medal in a marathon organised by the Bahraini Catalysts Disabilities Association as well as won medals in local Zumba competitions staged by Special Families Support Group Bahrain.
AlSaad notched silver and bronze in Boccia, a precision ball sport, at the Special Olympics MENA Games and clinched gold in the Bahrain National Day Competitions. She also has medals in tennis.
Both aim to continue practising Taekwondo and Poomsaes with Coach Al-BinAli. They encourage other athletes to work hard to achieve their dreams and to have fun in the process.
