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15.04.2008 Success at Renzo Gracie InvitationalEvent had almost 500 athletes on the mats
Photos by Luca Atalla
With over 450 participants and the logistical support of the USJJF, Renzo Gracie Invitational tournament received a good crowd at the Marist High School, in Bayonne, NJ, on April 12th. The number of athletes was two-times higher than the first edition, when 280 athletes enrolled. The fights were divided in 55 categories and fighters from 30 different RG academies took part from 10 US states and four countries.
Bruno Tostes, GMA member of Latham, NY, conquered the absolute adult brown/black belt division. In the team competition, Renzo Gracie Academy came first, followed by Ricardo Almeida Academy and Renzo Gracie Ottawa in second, Bruno Tostes in fourth and Real World Martial Arts (George Sernack) in fifth. The event was perfectly organized and ended punctually at 6:00pm. Check out bellow the 2008 RGI best moments.
From Renzo Gracie Otawa, GMA member in Canada, purple-belt Matthew Hache goes for the arm to win the lightweight category.
With the supervision of Kevin landry, GMA member in New Hampshire, Arthur Buckhols (in the blue gi) goes for the back of his opponent at the heavyweight division of the master category.
With his attention already at the upcoming Worlds, Augusto Vieira, aka Tio Chico, passes Karl Pravec’s guard on his way to the absolute finals.
In the brown/black belts middleweight division final match, Steve Kim, GMA member Ricardo Almeida’s student, beat another GMA member, Bruno Tostes.
After the silver medal in his category, GMA member Bruno Tostes came back with energy for the absolute, winning his second fight against tough competitor Alex Vamos…
…Then he received the courtesy of Tio Chico, who handed the victory in the final. They used to train together years ago in Belo Horizonte. Bruno is now two-time absolute champion of RGI, since he won last year.
The team competition podium, from left to right: Bruno Tostes (4th), Steve Kim receiving the trophy for Ricardo Almeida (2nd), Renzo Gracie (1st), Pat Cooligan (2nd) and George Sernack (5th).
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RECENT COMMENTS:
Roshan - roshannemusa@hotmail.com | June 27th, 2008
where are the women competitors? - Although we are still a small percentage of any tournament, it would be nice to hear/see a little bit of how the female BJJ competitors are doing on the scene...
Otherwise, great job online and the print magazine!
a big fan from Team Renzo Gracie Ottawa |
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