DEFTAC-RIBEIRO JJ, Japanese Carpe Diem Brazilian JJ and USA’s Checkmat reigned supreme in the Abu Dhabi Jiujitsu Pro (AJP) Tour Philippines-National Jiujitsu Championships recently at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay.
DEFTAC bagged a total of 48 gold medals, 40 silvers and eight bronze medals for a grand total of 55250 points to clinch the overall title, while Carpe Diem Brazilian Jiujitsu of Japan garnered 12 gold, 12 silver and 13 bronze medals for second overall with 21850 points.
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Checkmat of USA finished with 12 golds, eight silvers and four bronzes for third overall with 15350, while Atos of United States harvested seven golds, five silvers, and two bronzes for fourth place with 9100.
Another Japanese team Carpe Diem picked six golds, three silvers and one bronze for fifth place with 6900.
“Their performance is a reflection of their hard work, and I’m very, very happy with the performances and results they’ve shown,” said DEFTAC-RIBEIRO JJ founder and coach Alvin Aguilar, who is also president of Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC).
One of the highlights of the one-day tournament which featured 23 clubs from 16 countries worldwide including the United States, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Brazil, among others, was the fight between South Korean Shin Yuchan and Filipino Allan Co.
Yuchan of Carpe Diem submitted Co in less than a minute to move to the men’s gi black professional 120 kg finals, but failed to sustain the momentum after losing to eventual gold winner American Antonio Suazo of Six Blades Jiujitsu via submission.
DEFTAC bagged 14 gold medals in boys’ gi, 10 in girls gi, nine in men’s gi, five in youth men’s gi, three in girls’ youth no-gi, three in men’s no-gi, two in boy’s no-gi, and one each in men’s gi open and women’s gi.
Brothers Alonso ‘Lukie’ Aguilar and Lucho Aguilar, sons of first ever Filipino homegrown Brazilian jiujitsu black belter Alvin Aguilar, highlighted DEFTAC’S dominance by ruling their respective classes in the tournament attended by 350 competitors around the world.
Alonso bagged the gold in youth men’s gi blue 55 kg, while his younger brother Lucho captured the boys’ gi teen orange green 62 kg gold.
Other gold medalist from DEFTAC were Zeke Erhan Holganza (boys gi kids 2 white 23 kg), Kyra Lee (girls gi kids 2 white 37 kg), Mohammad Ibrahim Burahan (men’s gi white amateur 77 kg), Fierre Proudhon Afan (men’s gi blue amateur 85 kg), Lord Gabriel del Rosario (men’s no-gi blue amateur 56 kg and men’s gi open blue amateur heavy -120 kg), Annie Lou Parungao (women’s gi blue amateur 49 kg), Santiago Lausa (boys gi kids 3 white 24 kg), Samoan Nelson Meleisea (men’s no-gi white master 1 120 kg), Julianna Louise Marte (girls gi infant white 25 kg), and Isis Olaso (girls gi junior white grey 40 kg).
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