Dubai: Brazil’s Pedro Henrique Peres beat Denmark’s Alexander Trans to win the black belt Open weight division with gi at the two-day Dubai Jiu Jitsu Open Championship at Al Wasl Club on Saturday.
Peres’ victory made up for a third-place finish in the no-gi category of the same belt and weight division on Friday.
Meanwhile, Trans — who won Saturday’s +95kg black belt division with gi and came third in Friday’s +93kg division without gi — had to make do with two second-place finishes in both open black belt formats, with and without gi.
“I just tried to stay calm and not to commit the same mistakes as yesterday [Friday],” said Peres, who also finished third in the +95kg black belt division on Saturday.
“Maybe it’s what’s in your head that is the mistake, maybe I wasn’t breathing right and that makes you think, but you don’t have to think when you fight, you just have to go with the flow.
“This win means that all the effort in training is working. Alexander is a world champion, so all respect to him. Maybe this win is one in a million, but today is mine.”
A total of 202 competitors, including 75 Emiratis, fought on day two of the tournament, which was reserved for fighters wearing the gi, a heavy cotton jacket also known as the kimono. Friday had seen 133 participants, including 44 Emiratis, fight without the gi.
On day one, a total of 48 champions were crowned in six weight divisions each within eight belt categories without gi. Day two — with gi — saw a further three belt divisions each with five weight categories for women added to the existing 48 male categories, to total 63 sets of medals up for grabs.
Faisal Al Ketbi, the UAE’s first black belt and holder of the Abu Dhabi Professional Jiu Jitsu World Championship brown belt, came second in the +95kg black belt with gi on Saturday in his black belt debut, losing to Trans. “I’m happy with what I achieved because it’s my first time to compete in the black belt,” he said.
“This is a step forward and it’s a new path so we are still learning and we hope to learn fast.”
This event was the first of its kind to held outside of Abu Dhabi last year when it was launched as the Asian Jiu Jitsu Open Cup. The tournament returns in rebranded form this year as a permanent fixture in the local calendar.
Off the back of Jiu Jitsu’s successful migration to Dubai, the UAE Jiu Jitsu Federation is now looking to set up similar events in other emirates, growing the sport through the local curriculum — as is already the case in Abu Dhabi where 40,000 boys and girls have taken to the sport in over 100 schools.
