Abu Dhabi: Claudio Calasans emerged as the star of the three-day Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Abu Dhabi World Pro championship which concluded late on Saturday night at the Abu Dhabi International Tennis Complex.
The 23-year-old Brazilian stunned favourite and winner of three world Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu titles, Braulio Estima, in two title bouts to win the Absolute Class Belt as well as the Under-83 title as a large crowd watched some close tussles on the mat in the $150,000 (Dh550,785) event.
Calasans first rallied from almost being beaten in the under-83 final between the two black belts. With about tens seconds left in the bout and Braulio in a winning position, Calasans came up with a sweep to tie the scores. A punishment given earlier to Braulio then clinched the title in favour of the younger champion.
Two wins
Pocketing $8,000 for that win, Calasans then went on to outduel Braulio in the feature event of the championship. His win in the Absolute Class made him richer by another US $20,000 in a winner-takes-all category.
With General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, watching most of the final bouts on Saturday, the UAE did well to win four titles with Faisal Al Ketbi the winner on two occasions.
In the White and Blue belts division, Al Ketbi won the under-93 weight class final defeating Brazilian Celso Frabetti and later in the Heavy Open Weight class of the same category, the UAE ace got the better of Egyptian Tarek Mattar.
Tarek Al Mattar defeated Ahmad Ghuloom in an all-UAE final to win the under-63 title while Yahya Mansoor was a popular winner for the UAE when he defeated Brazil's Marcelo Tarso in the under-98 kg category.
Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, along with Shaikh Zayed Bin Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Shaikh Abdullah Bin Mohammad Bin Khalid Al Nahyan and Thaloob Al Drai distributed medals and cash awards to the winners.
RESULTS
Purple, brown and black Open Weight Class:
Final: Claudio Calasans (Brazil) beat Braulio Estima (UK); Purple, brown and black weight group (All finals): Under-65 kg: Rafael Mendes (Brazil) beat Guilherme Mendes (Brazil); Under- 74kg: Gilbert Burns (Brazil) bt Claudio Matos (Brazil); Under-83kg: Claudio Calasans (Brazil) bt Braulio Estima (Brazil) ; Under-92kg: Alexandro Ceconi (Brazil) bt Romulo Barral (Brazil)' Over-92kg: Ricardo Abreu (Brazil) bt Gabriel Vella (Brazil) ; White and Blue Belts (All finals):; Under-63kg: Tarek Al Kutbi (UAE) bt Ahmed Ghuloom (UAE); Under-68kg:Matheus Luckmann (Brazil) bt Jacob Sandoval (USA); Under-73kg: Daniel Agard (United Kingdom) bt Daniel Svensson (Sweden); Under-78kg: Khaled Abdul Kareem (Jordan) bt Jonathan Tuck (Guam, USA); Under-83kg:Kit Dale (Australia) bt Gustavo Silvestro (Brazil); Under-88kg: Krysztof Saganowski (Poland) bt Majid Al Naqbi (UAE); Under-93kg: Faisal Al Ketbi (UAE) bt Celson Frabetti (Brazil)
Under-98kg: Yahya Mansoor (UAE) bt Marcelo Tarso (Brazil)
Over-98kg: Hideki Sekine (Japan) bt Willie Leonard (USA); Light Open Class: Jonathan Tuck (Guam) bt Mohammad Zasser (UAE) ; Heavy Open Class: Faisal Al Ketbi bt Tarek Mattar (Egypt)
Females: Under-63 kg final: Luanna Alzuguir Brazil) beat Beatriz Mesquita (Brazil); Over 63 kg final: Gabrielle Garcia (Brazil) bt Luzia Fernandes (Brazil)
