Faisal Al Ketbi won this year’s World Pro double gold at brown belt and was promoted on the podium to a well deserved black belt. He is one of the big hopes of UAE jiu-jitsu.
Faisal who is just 26, has won the gold medal in each of the six championships staged in Abu Dhabi, except in 2011 at blue belt where he took silver.
He will now be competing at black belt against the likes of Rodolfo Vieira, Buchecha etc.
This is what he had to say about his new challenge to Thenational.ae:
“The black belt is a new beginning for me. To fight in the black-belt division has always been my long-term ambition.
To win gold medals in the blue, purple and brown-belt categories in the world pro event [the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu Jitsu Championship] wasn’t easy either. The bar has now been raised and I hope I can meet the challenges that are ahead.
I am very glad to achieve what I aimed for. I thank God and thank all those who supported me, including the federation, the national team coach, the people around me and the fans.”
Al Ketbi’s coach, Alex Paz, had this to say about his student’s incoming challenge at black belt:
“It will take him a year or two to get to grips at this level, and of course, more hard work.
Faisal has an excellent work ethic and that’s one of the reasons for his success. He is a quick learner and fully committed to his work.
He has improved all the time to reach the level he has reached now and I am sure he will continue to do well and achieve good results because he is still the same humble and disciplined person that I have known all along.
He is an amazing guy. I have had a long association with him as the national team coach and have become close friends aside from the training and preparing him for competitions.”
