A colourful and swashbuckling opening ceremony was held at the Bangkok Youth Centre (Thai-Japan) on Tuesday afternoon to mark the official entrance of jujitsu into the first Asian Martial Arts Games. The president of the Asian Jujitsu Belt Wrestling Federation, Khalil Ahmed Khan, welcomed everyone to the ceremony and thanked the Olympic Council of Asia for giving his federation the opportunity to show the "art and sport" of jujitsu to the rest of Asia, especially to the people of Thailand.

"Jujitsu is not a new art but a most ancient martial art from Japan, out of which they derived judo, karate and aikido," said Mr. Khan.

"Therefore in jujitsu you can find all possible attacks such as kicks, punches, throws, grappling and locks. In short it is the perfect martial art and the perfect self-defence."

Eight teams -- Afghanistan, India, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Thailand -- followed their flags into the arena for the competition, which started with the duo events (women and mixed).

"I am sure that, with this kind of help and support, jujitsu will flourish, not only in Thailand but in South East Asia, and soon it will be part of the SEA Games programme," added Mr. Khan.

Both jujitsu and belt wrestling will be demonstration sports at the OCA's third Asian Indoor Games in Hanoi in October.

Speaking on behalf of the OCA, Director General Husain Al Musallam declared the competition open and promised: "The OCA will do its best to help the growth and development of jujitsu in Asia."