UAEJJF World Pro gold medalist Amal Amjahid will not be competing at the IBJJF World Championship due to her coach being denied access to the United States.
Khalid Houry, who is also Amjahid’s stepfather and has coached her since the beginning of her martial arts career, has gone with Amjahid to the United States six times in order for her to compete. However, on the way from their native Belgium to California, Houry was stopped by immigration and denied entry into the USA.
Amjahid expressed her frustration and disappointment in a Facebook post and said that she would not be traveling or competing without Houry by her side.
Pas de #Worlds IBJJF pour moi cette année. Nous nous sommes vues refuser l'accès du territoire Américain et n'avons pas…
Posted by Amal Amjahid on Wednesday, May 30, 2018
“No #worlds IBJJF for me this year. We have been denied access to American territory and have not been able to embark on the flight to Los Angeles. This ban is extended to my father and coach Khalid Houry who is internationally recognized and who has been with me since the beginning of this adventure when we visited more than 6 times in Los Angeles.
We do not understand this decision, especially since my father is an integrated person and has no problem with justice, on the contrary he works every day to improve society as best he can in his social investment. I would particularly like to thank US Embassy Brussels for all the efforts they have provided to solve this problem, they tried to contact Department of Homeland Security to untie this problem without result, other proposals were But unfortunately this did not allow us to go to the United States on time. Leaving without my coach is an unthinkable idea to me as long as we both are on this earth, we will continue our way together.”
Amjahid is a brown belt who won gold at Euros this year and silver at Worlds last year. Her impressive performance at the World Pro helped make her a favorite to become a world champion before she announced that she wouldn’t be competing.
