Brazil’s Pedro Henrique Peres fell short on day one, but saved his best for last to earn the black belt adult open weight title in the Gi (kimono) category of the Dubai Jiu-Jitsu Open Championship at Al Wasl Indoor Stadium.
To top the division and win the final, Peres had to beat League UAE team-mate Alexander Trans of Denmark, who finished in second while Peres placed third in the same event during the No-Gi category the first day.
This time, however, Peres made his adjustments and used sound technique to claim top spot on the podium.
“It was very, very difficult,” Peres said. “He’s (Trans) my teammate but because of the rules, we had to fight. But the guy’s a world champion so all the respect to him. Maybe this was a one in a million [win], but today was mine.
“I tried not to commit the same mistakes and act calm,” he added. “Maybe what’s in your mind is a mistake and not breathing right makes your mind think. You don’t need to think when you fight. You just have to go with the flow.”
The Sao Paulo native has been living in Abu Dhabi for two years and praised the two-day event for furthering jiu-jitsu in the region.
“It’s a very big event we have here,” Peres said. “We have very tough competitors, very tough black belts. This is the same level as Brazilian nationals I would say. There’s tough guys everywhere now. There’s no easy championships.”
Peres also captured bronze in black belt adult +95kg, coming behind Emirati Faisal Al Ketbi, whose efforts in his first competition as a black belt led to a silver medal. The 26-yeard-old wasn’t able to repeat his feat of reaching gold as a brown belt at May’s Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship, but was pleased to take step forward at a more challenging level.
“I am happy with what I achieved because it’s my first time competing in black belt,” Al Ketbi said. “Of course, there’s still a lot to learn and any achievements I achieve, whether it’s in first or second, it satisfies me and gives a push to work harder and do better than what I did.”
Al Ketbi and the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Team are now eyeing the Asian Beach Games held later this year in November in Phuket, Thailand.
“This (Dubai Jiu-Jitsu Open Championship) is a very good step to prepare our team and to prepare myself too,” Al Ketbi said. “I hope we get the benefits and we learn from our mistakes when we come back to train.”
