Shihan Sensei Sufyan
Chief Instructor & Founder · 6th Dan
Founder & Head Sensei Profile
Shihan Sensei Sufyan
Shihan Sensei Sufyan Nidbelaid holds the rank of 6th Dan in Aikido and serves as Technical Director of the Higher Committee of Aikido in Bahrain. He was born in Morocco on 4th March 1980 and began his sporting career at school playing volleyball, winning a Moroccan local tournament in 1990. That same year, fate brought him to Aikido. Five years later he earned his first Dan — first-degree black belt — and was recognized as the youngest person to be awarded a black belt in the Arab and African countries. Sensei Sufyan began his teaching career under the supervision of Sensei Mohammed El-Khouthy, leading children's classes in his hometown before moving to the Al-Fidaa Aikido & Sports Society. In 2001 he was promoted to Deputy Technical Director and member of the technical committee of the Moroccan Association of Aikido & Iaido. In 2004 he moved to Bahrain and established the Bahrain Aikido School, which attracted many participants. He was later appointed General Coordinator of the Moroccan Union for the Gulf region and granted membership in the Moroccan Association of Senior Masters. In 2007 the school expanded and adopted its current name, the Bahrain Aikido Academy, and several Aikidoka earned their first-degree black belt within the dojo. In 2012 Sensei Sufyan achieved the rank of 5th Dan, and in 2016 he founded the Higher Committee of Aikido in Bahrain — the vehicle that put Bahrain's Aikido on the global level. As a result, the Bahrain Martial Arts Federation recognizes him as Technical Director of Aikido in Bahrain.
