Belgian athletes excelled at the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship. This year's event, which took place in Abu Dhabi, was a great success for Belgian athletes, who won medal after medal!
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Licaï Pourtois comes from Binche and is trained by Nadia Bertrand; she already held the title of world junior champion, and won the under 55kg category for the second year in a row. She had won the title the previous year in Malmö, Sweden.
Amal Amjahid also won in her discipline, "Ne-Waza", a form of Jiu-Jitsu that focuses on ground techniques. The young Brussels athlete has now won the title three years in a row. This time, she beat another Belgian, the Flemish athlete Fran Vanderstukken, who also practises mixed martial arts.
In the Duo System, a form of demonstration that involves presenting a series of defence techniques in front of a jury, the Belgians Charis Gravensteyn and Ian Lodens won the gold medal for the mixed duo, while the female pair of Marion Decrop and Nykiya Dams won the bronze medal.
This little-known sport is a discipline in which Belgians have performed well for several years, whether in Fighting, the Duo System or Ne-Waza; the Belgian Alan Ciku was world champion in 2016 and Wim Deputter and Oualid Sbai were European champions in 2014.
