By Abdellatif Sharaa

KUWAIT: Kuwait's first Martial Arts Championship will take place tomorrow (Saturday), at Kuwait Boxing Federation Hall in Sabah Al-Salem area. There will be 13 bouts in boxing and Muay Thai, including two women Muay Thai matches. Participants will be medically tested and weighed today (Friday) to make sure about their fitness and compliance with the rules.

The first Martial Arts Championship will be attended by Vice President of the Spanish Olympic Committee, member of the European Union Sports for All Committee Professor Eduardo Blanco Barrera, Representative of the World Boxing Council (WBC) Techno Balanas, Director of WBC Executive Council and Head of MENA region for Muay Thai Hajji Taher and several sports personalities in Kuwait.

WBC representative in Kuwait Meshal Al-Fajji said the organizing committee completed all preparations for the launch of the first sport event of its kind in Kuwait and the Arabian Gulf. He said we worked for several months to ensure the best launch of the first Muay Thai Championship with major support from Kuwait Olympic Committee Board Member, Head of Sports Committees Committee Sheikh Mubarak Fasial Al-Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Kuwait Muay Thai Committee President Abdelsalam Al-Sindy and Kuwait Boxing Federation President Mohammad Mansi.

The championship will start with a match between Rakan Al-Malalah and Seif Al-Malalah in Muay Thai, followed by a women's match between Rana Al-Suqobi and Haneen Bushehri for under 51 kg. The third match will be between Othman Al-Mutawa and Ous Nasruldeen in the under 48 kg. The fourth match will be between Majd Fakhani and Ali Akbar in the under 81 kg.

This will be followed by the first boxing match between Hussein Mubarak and Mishal Al-Enezi for under 56 kg. The Muay Thai will be completed by a match between Mubarak Jumaa and Mudhar Al-Nabulsi in the 71 kg, followed by the second women Muay Thai match between Haneen Naseem and Asmaa Al-Qabandi in the 51 kg, followed by a match between Abdallah Saleem and Khalid Al-Nabulsi in the 77 kg.

The ninth match will be between Ibrahim Al-Nahat and Falah Al-Mutairi in the above 91 kg, then there will be a boxing bout between Meshal Al-Kandary and Fadi Al-Wakeel for under 77 kg, then a match between Adnan Al-Qazweeni and Abdelrahman Al-Sanad for the under 74 kg. The match before last will be between Faisal Al-Bughaili and Dawood Faisal in the 65 kg. Matches will be concluded by a match for the WBC Kuwait championship between Muhannad Al-Maghrabi and Omar Mansour in the under 65 kg category.