The UAE claimed its seventh gold medal of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Friday, with two more jiu-jitsu titles and a judo gold pushing the country's overall tally to 12 medals. Mahdi Al Awlaqi won gold in the men's 77kg jiu-jitsu category, beating Jordan's Mahmoud Jabr in the final. In the women's 52kg division, Asma Al Hosani defeated South Korea's Eonju Im to retain the title she first won at the 2023 Games, when she became the first Emirati woman to win an Asian Games gold medal in a martial art.
Later the same day, Amaar Al Hosani took bronze in the 94kg jiu-jitsu category, beating Abdullah Al Qubaisi in the repechage round. That result brought the UAE's jiu-jitsu medal count for the Games to eight: five gold, two silver and one bronze.
In judo, Kazbek Naguchev added to the tally with gold in the 73kg category, defeating Uzbekistan's Shakhram Ahadov in the final.
The results take the UAE's overall medal count at the Aichi-Nagoya Games to 12 — seven gold, four silver and one bronze — placing the country among the region's best performers at this edition of the Asian Games.
The repeated gold-medal haul in combat sports, jiu-jitsu in particular, reflects years of national investment in the discipline, which the UAE has built into a flagship sport over the past decade. Friday's results extend a pattern seen throughout the Games, with the UAE's martial-arts squads consistently outperforming its contingents in other disciplines.