{"id":6387,"date":"2025-09-10T16:18:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T15:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/?p=6387"},"modified":"2025-09-10T21:23:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T20:23:21","slug":"moroccan-youth-muay-thai-national-team-heads-to-abu-dhabi-a-test-of-ambition-and-global-aspirations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/moroccan-youth-muay-thai-national-team-heads-to-abu-dhabi-a-test-of-ambition-and-global-aspirations\/","title":{"rendered":"Moroccan Youth Muay Thai National Team Heads to Abu Dhabi: A Test of Ambition and Global Aspirations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"281\" data-end=\"646\">The Moroccan youth Muay Thai national team has officially set off to Abu Dhabi to compete in the <strong data-start=\"378\" data-end=\"412\">IFMA Youth World Championships<\/strong>, held from <strong data-start=\"424\" data-end=\"452\">September 10 to 19, 2025<\/strong>. This participation reflects not only the country\u2019s growing interest in combat sports but also its ambition to position Moroccan athletes among the rising stars of the global Muay Thai scene.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"648\" data-end=\"874\">Led by <strong data-start=\"655\" data-end=\"694\">Professor Abdelilah Idrissi Bouzidi<\/strong>, President of the Royal Moroccan Federation of Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Savate and Similar Sports, the squad includes promising male and female fighters across two age categories:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"876\" data-end=\"1371\">\n<li data-start=\"876\" data-end=\"995\">\n<p data-start=\"878\" data-end=\"995\"><strong data-start=\"878\" data-end=\"892\">Ages 14\u201315<\/strong>: Halima Belmajdoub (-42kg), Basma Masloub (-54kg), Elias Hamed (-40kg), and Anwar Al-Aytari (-57kg).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"996\" data-end=\"1371\">\n<p data-start=\"998\" data-end=\"1371\"><strong data-start=\"998\" data-end=\"1012\">Ages 16\u201317<\/strong>: Rayan Waqrim (-45kg), Noufel Ennour (-48kg), Youssef Ait Hamaja (-51kg), Mohamed Amine Bouyaala (-54kg), Bilal Chtitioui (-57kg), Hamza Touriou (-63.5kg), Adam Harir (-67kg), Chaimae Taziri (-45kg), Oumaima Essabounia (-51kg), Kawtar Bouardi (-54kg), Marwa Labbassi (-60kg), Mariam Hammamzin (-63.5kg), Yasmine Menkadi (-71kg), and Halima Ettayar (-75kg).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"1373\" data-end=\"1604\">The technical staff includes <strong data-start=\"1402\" data-end=\"1457\">national coaches Miloud El Bahri and Driss Benyahia<\/strong>, supported by Moroccan referees <strong data-start=\"1490\" data-end=\"1547\">Mustapha El Ghanam, Mustapha Dehbas, and Lamina Bahab<\/strong>, with <strong data-start=\"1554\" data-end=\"1582\">Dr. Ibrahim Ait Benasser<\/strong> as the team doctor.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"1606\" data-end=\"1651\">A Strategic Participation Beyond Medals<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"1653\" data-end=\"2094\">This participation is more than just chasing medals. It is about exposing Moroccan youth fighters to international competition, testing their preparation, and identifying talents who could carry the national flag in future global events. Morocco\u2019s involvement also reflects a broader sporting strategy: developing a new generation capable of competing in professional circuits while strengthening the country\u2019s reputation in combat sports.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"2096\" data-end=\"2340\">The event in Abu Dhabi thus represents both a <strong data-start=\"2142\" data-end=\"2155\">challenge<\/strong> and an <strong data-start=\"2163\" data-end=\"2178\">opportunity<\/strong> \u2014 a chance to measure Moroccan youth against the world\u2019s elite and a platform to affirm that the Kingdom is investing seriously in the future of combat sports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Moroccan youth Muay Thai national team has officially set off to Abu Dhabi to compete in the IFMA Youth World Championships, held from September 10 to 19, 2025. This participation reflects not only the country\u2019s growing interest in combat sports but also its ambition to position Moroccan athletes among the rising stars of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6387","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kick-kickboxing-muay-thai"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6387"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6387"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6389,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6387\/revisions\/6389"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}