The coronavirus pandemic continues to affect the world and all major sports, but some sports are looking for ways to work around it. The United Arab Emirates’ national jiu-jitsu team is attempting to resume training for their athletes are lockdown measures are easing up.

According to John Hopkins University, there are currently over 15,192 Covid-19 infected people in the UAE.

According to The National, the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation decided that their national team could start training BJJ once again. Their athletes haven’t trained since March. Now the 43 national team members will start training under national team coach Ramon Lemos (co-Founder of Atos).

UAEJJF Chairman Abdulmunam Al Hashemi stated:

“We have followed the UAE government’s directives to take every precaution to resume our training activities with a camp for the national team members before we open the floor to the rest of the jiu-jitsu community in the country,”

“We came to that conclusion after consultation with the health and other relevant authorities. We are already working with the local authorities also to make it possible to schedule local, regional, national, and international events as soon as possible.”

All team members have also undergone Covid-19 tests, with negative results coming for all.

The training will consist of 2 daily training sessions: a light one before Iftar and a two-hour session from 10 p.m. to midnight. They will enforce social distancing, with minimal contact required by each member.

The team is currently preparing for the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship, which has been  re-scheduled to take place in November instead of the usual April. Other big competition include China’s Beach Games and the JJIF World Championship.