By Abdellatif Sharaa

KUWAIT: Muhannad Al-Mughrabi from Lebanon won the main event of the 65 KG Category in Kuwait's first International Muai Thai Championship by defeating Jordan's Omar Mansour on Saturday. The matches were attended by Vice President of Kuwait Olympic Committee Mohammad Jaafar, Vice President of Spanish Olympic Committee professor Eduardo Blanco Pereira, member of KOC Board and Chairman of Sports Committees Committee Sheikh Duaij Jaber Al-Ali, Chairman of Kuwait Boxing Federation Mohammad Mansi, Representative of World Boxing Council (WBC) Chano Planas, President Middle East and Africa Muay Thai Hadji Batahar, President of Boxing Federation Galicia North of Spain Manolo Planas, Spanish Ambassador to Kuwait Miguel Moro Aguilar, Pakistan's Ambassador Malik Muhammad Farooq, USA Charge-de-Affairs James Holtsnider, Thai Ambassador and WBC representative in Kuwait Meshal Al-Fajji.

Sheikh Mubarak Faisal Al-Nawaf said the championship was an outstanding success. Sheikh Mubarak said Kuwait Olympic committee supports all youth efforts to ensure that Kuwait flags remain in prominence at regional and international events. On his part, Mohammad Mansi said Kuwait Boxing Federation is keen on supporting Kuwait youth in all sporting events. He said the hosting of the championship at the Federation's hall was part of the youth support, and in cooperation with the private sector which is an important source for Kuwait sport - as they hope to host more professional championships and Muai Thai.

WBC representative in Kuwait Meshal Al-Fajji was proud of the major success the championship achieved, adding that the success was due to the cooperation and support with KOC and KBF. The matches were generally competitive. The first match was between Kuwait's Rakan Malallah and Saif Malallah, with Rakan winning the bout.

In the Women Under 51 kg, Rana Al-Saqubi defeated Haneen Bushehri. The third Muai Thai match saw Othman Al-Mutawa defeating Aws Nasraldeen (from Yemen) in the 48 Kg Category. In the under 81 KG Category, Majd Fakehani from Syria defeated Ali Akbar in a highly competitive and exciting match. The match was decided on point basis.

In the 71 KG, Mudhar Al-Nabulsi defeated Mubarak Juma while, in the Women 51 KG, Haneen Naseem came out as the winner against Asmaa Al-Qabandi. Abdallah Saleem defeated Khalid Al-Nabulsi in the 77 KG. In the 91+ KG, Falah Al-Mutairi lost the bout in the first round to Egypt's Ibrahim Alnahat due to injury.

The boxing matches were very exciting. Meshal Al-Enezi defeated Hussein Mubarak in the Under 56 KG, while Fadi Al-Wakeel (from Syria) beat Meshal Al-Kandari in the 77 kg. The third boxing match (Under 74) KG was highly exciting and was decided by points in favor Adnan Al-Qazwini against Abdulrahman Al-Sanad.