On October 2015, Al Jazeera released a wonderful documentary covering the life of Mr. Gusein and Olga Magomaev/a and their Five Directions of the World Martial Arts School. At one point in the documentary following Mr. Magomaev’s concerns for his pupils due to the raise of Islamic terrorism, the footage switches to a fire that destroyed a dormitory occupied by over a hundred children, luckily with no injuries. The documentary seems to suggest the fire was a result of terrorism, during my interview with Sabir Bagautdinov I asked him about this specific event. He mentioned that in fact there were two separate fires, from his recollection the first one was due to poor electrical work and the second one from kids playing with matches. The documentary also follows a group of kids and coaches as they prepare for a tournament in Saint Petersburg. I followed up on the faith of some of those kids many of which had already graduated and are included in the school’s web site for their outstanding sport achievements in national and international competitions. This short documentary is really worth the time, enjoy.
“The essence of our work is simple. To protect the children from this external aggressive environment. You have to develop their moral values, you have to strengthen their spirits. Then you can release them into the world when they’re not afraid of all that can happen in life.”
Gusein Magomaev, 2015
Zhongguo Wu Xue 