Over the weekend, the Ascend team competed in Sanda and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, claiming an outstanding 11 Gold Medals, 3 Silver Medals and 1 Bronze Medal.
Sanda Oceanic Championship In Newcastle
First up we had Ricco, Leithan, Naomi and Michael competing in the Sanda Oceanic Championship in Newcastle on Saturday. Everyone fought well and came away with some great results.
Ricco had one full contact match against a confident grappler. In the first round, Ricco had some trouble with mat control, which is quite a difficult skill to master in Sanda, and lost the round on points. Sanda is scored by declaring the winner of the round as soon as it ends. In the second round, Ricco found his footing and was far more aggressive, taking back some points with good kicks to the body and damaging punches to the head. Unfortunately for Ricco, his opponent's grappling skill allowed him to get slightly ahead on points in the round, delivering the victory to his opponent.
Leithan had one fight against a Sanda specialist and came out on top. Leithan unloaded with flurries of straight strikes, directing his opponent to the edge of the mat before getting a quick push out. Leithan secured the first round with another push out shortly after. In the second round, Leithan continued with more of the same, securing another pushout and finishing the round up on points with more kicks and punches, earning him a clean victory.
Naomi was up against a highly skilled Muay Thai and Sanda fighter in her bout. Naomi did well to trade some kicks and grapple with her opponent, however after two rounds her opponent was declared the winner.
Michael had two opponents on the day, and won both bouts earning a gold medal in the 80-90 kg division.
The final results were:
Leithan | Gold |
Michael | Gold |
Ricco | Silver |
Naomi | Bronze |
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Australian Open In Byron Bay
On Sunday, an even larger team from Ascend Martial Arts competed at the BJJAO Autumn Open. The competitors were Michael, Ricco, Naomi, Keeley, Josh G and Josh T. The results were astonishing with 19 wins and only 3 losses across individual matches for Ascend.
Ricco had 4 rolls in total in both gi and no gi. Ricco went in with the goal of utilising his newly developed Judo skills, and did so with great effect. Ricco won all of his rolls, securing him 2 gold medals.
Josh G competed in no gi for both his weight division and open weight. Despite having a few tough rolls with some adept guard players, Josh was able to secure strong top positions in all of his matches and also come away with 2 golds.
Josh T unfortunately only got one roll in for the day. Despite having an excellent roll and being up on points, Josh was unfortunately disqualified due to breaking a rule that he was unaware of. Despite this, Josh showed excellent skill in his first event.
Keeley stepped on to the mats for her first competition and dominated her first roll. Keeley maintained a strong top position and won her roll on points. Unfortunately, due to the limited competition pool, Keeley was up against Naomi next. In her roll, Keeley did extremely well and took away a silver medal as a result.
Naomi had two rolls against other people on the day. Naomi took a comfortable win in her weight division, and had a tough roll against a heavier opponent in the open weight. Regardless, Naomi did very well and demonstrated her solid understanding of grappling on the day.
Last up was Michael, who had a total of 7 matches on the day and came away with a win in all of them. Michael went up against some tough grapplers, but ultimately prevailed and came away with 4 gold medals.
The final results were:
Michael | 4 Golds |
Ricco | 2 Golds |
Josh G | 2 Golds |
Naomi | 1 Gold, 1 Silver |
Keeley | 1 Silver |
A huge congratulations to everyone that competed over the weekend. Your hard work has paid off, and we couldn't be any prouder of you all!
Looking forward to the next comp!
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