The responsibility of carrying the red, white and green of the Lebanese flag falls on the shoulders of one man at the 2024 GAMMA World Championships, commencing tomorrow in Indonesia.
Sitting in the center of the red and white striped flag is a cedar tree. Along with its historical context, the tree represents a number of key principles from strength to beauty to resilience.
Until last week there was set to be a pair of athletes representing their nation in Indonesia (in an already depleted team), but the on-going Israel-Hezbollah conflict forced one of the remaining athletes also to unfortunately withdraw from this year’s tournament.
Aurore Sahyoun (pictured above left) came away from last year’s World Championships in Thailand with silver medals in both MMA and Striking MMA. She sent this message after being unable to compete in 2024.
“I won’t be attending the Worlds this year because of the war going on here in Lebanon, as I didn’t get the okay from my school so I can travel. They are afraid that we can go but we won’t be able to come back. So, this is my situation now. And hopefully for the next year I will be there or maybe not. As God wants. I hope that this year will be amazing and you will have a great world championship as usual.”
45-year old Muay Thai specialist Ibrahim Hadad (pictured left) will be the sole representative of his nation but even getting to this stage has not been easy for him as he described the mental hurdles he has had to overcome on this path.
“We had all put in so much work in camp and when the war broke-out we were not sure we would be able to travel,” he told gamma-sport.org. “Despite that we decided we were going to stay in training camp just in case things changed. During that time, plane ticket prices had gone up and we weren’t able to get any sponsors. That led to the whole team having to cancel their trip. I made it by financing myself. I had this answer when asked if I was going to make it to Indonesia: ‘I am going even if I have to swim out of here’”
This alone would make for a remarkable story but Hadad is motivated to represent himself and all of the talented athletes that could not make it to the World Championships.
“My aim is to have fun, enjoy the experience and just hope to get as much exposure as I can. All I can do is be the best version of myself. I approach training that way and with age, the mental and psychological aspect both play a bigger role. You learn to train smarter and approach fighting that way as well.
“A challenge I have right now is being at the games on my own. I would have loved for the whole team to be there in my corner but regardless, all their spirits will be in the ring with me.”
The 2024 World Championships is set to take place between the 8 to 14 December at Banten’s Dewa MMA Arena and will be live streamed internationally on GAMMA YouTube and Facebook channels, subject to local broadcast deals.
