About Us.

UAE Wrestling & Judo Federation has been able to make a steady progress, and rose to lofty horizons thanks the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Tahnoun Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, head of the Private Department of H.H. the president of UAE , Chairman of Abu Dhabi Health &Fitness Club, and the Honorary President of (UAE-WJ-Federation) . H.H. Sheikh Tahnoun has been nominated as a honorary president of the Federation, in recognition of the important role he played in supporting wrestling in UAE since its early days. His far -sighted vision , was behind the launching of wrestling in Abu Dhabi Health& Fitness Club which was inaugurated in1999 with the aim of catering for this important and popular sport. Thereafter, wrestling progressed steadily thanks to the efforts of the club officials who, were, at the time, looking after twenty promising young national wrestlers of various age categories. Those players took part in more than fifteen Arab, regional and international competitions. That extensive participations helped harden the players, sharpen their talents, in a way that helped them to perform extremely well and, raise the flag of UAE aloft in regional as well as international arenas. At the time, the need also arose for the creation of a governing body to supervise wrestling activities, and push the early efforts forward. UAE Wrestling & Judo Federation was founded to fulfill this need . The first meeting of the Association’s board of directors was held under the chairmanship of Mohammed Bin Thaloub Al Der’ei who drew, during that meeting ,the guidelines for the future of wrestling in the country. The nascent Association received unlimited support from H.H. Sheikh Hazaa ' Bin Zayed, president of Abu Dhabi Health& Fitness Club, and H.H. Sheikh Tahnoun Bin Zayed Al Nahyan the chairman of the club. This unlimited support helped the Association to achieve a lot of administrative, technical, and organizational goals, and reflect a bright image of UAE sports.

This support and patronage was also instrumental in getting the approval of the Arab Wrestling Federation for accepting (UAE-WJ-Federation) as one of its active members. In spite of its young age, the Federation was also able to obtain the membership of the Asian Wrestling Federation, who approved the application submitted by the Association in this regard, after it had verified the supporting documents, and the track record of UAE wrestling ‘s international participations, and its hosting of a variety of organizational events, at the Arab and international levels. This outstanding track record showed the solid technical base of the sport, and the width of its popularity in the country, and was behind the confidence shown by the officials of The Arab and Asian Federations in UAE abilities, after they had earlier seen, firsthand, the achievements made by the Federation in the organizational field.

In addition, the Federation got the approval of the International Wrestling Federation who accepted it as one of its active members. That approval was the outcome of the extensive correspondence made by the Associations -through UAE National Olympic Committee- with the regional , continental and international federations, either for this purpose, or for the purpose of boosting cooperation, and mutual relations.

In its constructive and relentless efforts, to enhance the cooperation with the regional wrestling Associations which had an earlier start, UAE-WJ-Federation  approached the brothers in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, for enhancing interaction and mutual co-operation, and broadening the scope of the sport in the region by incorporating the Republic of Yemen. Those efforts came to boost that made by the Arab Wrestling Federation in this regard.

Now ,wrestling is making a steady  progress, thanks to awareness its community has of the modern concepts of the Roman and free- style wrestling.

Last October, the UAE-WJ-Federation has signed an agreement with UAE School Sports Association (SSA), to benefit from the capabilities of this important organization which, constitute the corner stone of UAE sports. This agreement also came to complement the earlier efforts made in co-operation with the Ministry of Education and Youth, especially after(SSA) raised its motto   “participation comes before victory”. Through its tireless efforts, The UAE-WJ-Federation seeks to prepare a new generation, capable of practicing sports in a proper manner, under the supervision of qualified instructors, who will get high quality training at the hand of wrestling experts at (UAE-WJ-Federation) facilities. All this will help us discover the promising players, looking forward to getting more care and attention. such players will, definitely , get all they need after the establishment of the UAE-WJ-Federation and the efforts it has made jointly with (SSA) for the achievement of this particular goal. Such joint efforts heralded a new approach to sports in UAE , the matter which wouldn’t have been possible but for  the serious steps taken by (SSA) under the chairmanship of Dr. Ahmed Sa’ad Al Shareef.

We hope that, the coming seasons will witness extensive participations in the championships which, will be held within the framework of the official sports activities, in such a way as to enable us to further popularize the sport throughout our country .