Our Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu team went to work this weekend at AJJC 2019 (The Australian Jiu Jitsu Championship). Our team took away 17 gold, 16 silver and 13 bronze medals after a massive weekend of work, with the competition spread out across Saturday and Sunday. We would like to congratulate all of our competitors on their efforts and on their continuous dedication to moving forward in their martial arts journeys! We had many notable performances over the weekend, including Constandinos Haritou, who took out the Absolute Gi for blue belt (open weight) and the middleweight division for Gi blue belt to secure a double gold! Sarah Chapman also took away a huge TRIPLE gold, winning purple belt middleweight in the Gi, purple belt Absolute in the Gi and and purple belt Absolute in No-Gi. Teammate Sofia Blom secured a double gold (Gi featherweight and No-Gi featherweight) for her efforts on the mats, having just graded to blue belt in June this year. Yet another stellar performance from our already established competitors!
In the Gi at white belt, Alison Loft won her first match via submission and her second via points (5-0, 0-1 advantage) to take away gold in the Masters 2/lightweight division, following it up with a bronze at open weight. It is great to see all of Alison’s hard work paying off, and we could not be prouder of her accomplishment at Nationals! Coach Lachlan Warne also took away gold at black belt in the gi at middleweight in a straight final, winning via Tarikoplata. Thank you to everyone who came to support the team, and to our coaches Apryl Eppinger, Livia Giles, Lachlan Giles, Sean Le Gourrierec and Thiago Stefanutti who put in a massive effort guiding our many students who competed at Nationals!
Overseas, EFC 81 took place at Time Square in Menlyn, Pretoria, South Africa. After training with our team at Collingwood, South African fighter Lyle Karam defeated Stefan ‘The Kick’ Pretorius by split decision after three rounds in the catchweight division. This marks five straight victories for Lyle, who remains undefeated despite a three year hiatus from the octagon. Congratulations Lyle!
On Sunday evening, Ben Arias, Joseph Choundary and Richy Vong entered the VAMAA ring at Chelsea Heights Hotel for their amateur bouts under K1 rules. Up first for the team, Ben went down swinging against a hard hitting opponent in a points decision, gaining a lot of learning in his match. Joe had an impressively executed win via UPD, displaying a multitude of skills and retaining his composure in the ring. Richy succumbed to a larger opponent by TKO in the second round, but showed a lot of poise in his debut. Regardless of result, we are proud of our team for leaving it all in the ring and representing the gym. Great work guys!
Photography: EFC, Alison Loft, Lachlan Warne, David Lescai, Sarah Chapman.