RGC Dabrowa delivering in Bytom

Our students from Dabrowa Gornicza went to a grappling comp last weekend in Bytom, Poland, and grabbed some medals at the VIII OPEN POLISH JU-JITSU FULL CONTACT AND GRAPPLING CHAMPIONSHIPS. All of them fought the Grappling divisions.
Check full results from our guys here:

Mateusz Szyniec – 1st place -66kg seniors
Sławomir Świtała – 3rd place +90kg seniors
Piotr Karnicki – 1st place -73kg juniors
Krzysiek Flak – 2nd place -66kg juniors

Montana International Jiu Jitsu Cup

Modena, Italy. This Sunday, 30th of March, had one of the first BJJ tournaments in Europe organised with the help of the CBJJE. This new federation has demonstrated to be a partner of the athletes, rewarding their hard effort with money prizes and well structured competitions. This tournament was not different, and had the participation of Wendell Alexander, head coach of Nova Uniao and one of the responsibles for the CBJJE. Each of the 5 black belt divisions gave 500 euros to its winner. The fee was only 30 euros, compare it to the European Championships, that charges 80 euros and gives nothing but medals and t-shirts!

Our team had 13 people coming from La Spezia, Livorno, Ferrara and Bologna. It was my first time watching them fight, and everyone did so well, even the ones losing displayed good technique, fighting spirit, tenacity and respect for their opponents, making me very proud of them.

We made 3 champions and 2 third places, in a competition with over 160 people from many clubs from Italy, France, Switzerland and Poland. A special mention goes to my friend Yan Cabral, that won his fight scoring 20 points on his opponent, at the black belt class under 80 kgs.

Our results:

Matteo Tugnolli – Gold, white belt, -65 kgs
Ion Condei – Gold, white belt, -88kgs
Wolodymyr Katerynchyk – Gold, white belt, +88kgs
Cristian Gessi – 3rd place, white belt, -88kgs
Gianluca Boni – 3rd place, blue belt, -80kgs

Me, Wendell Alexander and Yan Cabral

Young Matteo Tugnolli passing guard

RGC Italia

I Caledonian BJJ Open

We had 52 competitors in ten divisions, most winners had to fight 3 times to get the gold, the atmosphere was cordial and inviting, there were absolute no injuries, no complains about results, and the comp run ahead of schedule. At 3:20 pm we did the medal ceremony ending the tournament.

I’m very happy with the outcome of this competition and looking forward to the next one.

Cheers to everyone that helped doing this a brilliant day.

Special props to James Mc Intyre, Paul Mc Veigh, Guy Ramsal, Dr. Maeve Rodgers, Doug MacMaster, Steve Mainsy, Mark Curry and Cougar for all the work!

And special thanks to our students and friends in Glasgow, Ayr, Kilmarnock and Dunfermline that came forward to compete and support us, to Ricky Young and all the guys from Edinburgh (Including Polish and Russian), both teams from Aberdeen (AMAG and SBG), Bolton lads and the Irishman. This comp would not be the same without you. So hope 2 see everyone around for the II Caledonian BJJ Open in 2008.

Full results:

U66kg White Belt Division
Winner: Colin Smyth (Glasgow)
Runner-Up: Pete Menga (Bolton)

u73kg White Belt Division
Winner: Neil Cushnie (Aberdeen)
Runner-Up: Kevin Rose (Aberdeen)

u81kg White Belt Division
Winner: Graham Cleland (Glasgow)
Runner-Up: Richard Thomson (St Andrews)

u90kg White Belt Division
Winner: Jason Evans (Glasgow)
Runner-up: Cris Gudajc (Aberdeen/Poland)

90kg+ White Belt Division
Winner: Kris Millar (Ayr)
Runner-up: Stephen “Bambam” Peebles (Glasgow)

u66kg Blue Belt Division
Winner: Omar Rashid (Edinburgh)
Runner-up: Neil Barker (Glasgow)

u73kg Blue Belt Division
Winner: Craig Ali (Edinburgh)
Runner-up: Mark Curry (Belfast)

u81kg Blue Belt Division
Winner: Marcin Korbel (Edinburgh/Poland)
Runner-up: Paul Hornsey (Edinburgh)

u90kg Blue Belt Division
Winner: Brian Thomson (Edinburgh)
Runner-up: Antoine Damore (Aberdeen/France)

90kg+ Blue Belt Division
Winner: Stephen “JewBoy” Fitzgerald (Glasgow)
Runner-up: Stuart McKay (Edinburgh)