ABU DHABI // Marcus Almeida and Gabrielle Garcia stayed on course for double gold at the Abu Dhabi World Professional Championship 2015.
The Brazilians dominated in the men’s and women’s weight divisions on Thursday at the IPIC Arena, and will go into tomorrow’s title defence of the absolute classes as heavy favourites.
Almeida won gold in the black belt 95-kilogram-plus weight division for a fourth successive year with 2-0 points victory over Alexander Trans.
Garcia got the better of compatriot Vanessa Nascimento by advantage points 3-0 in the female brown/black 75kg-plus category to extend her winning streak to five since the women’s division was included on the World Pro schedule in 2010.
“It was really hard but I am happy to win my fourth gold in Abu Dhabi,” said Almeida.
The California-based Brazilian who is also the defending champion of the absolute class having won that category two years in a row.
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“I have come out of the fights from the weight divisions without any injuries. I can have a rest day and return to defend my title on Saturday hopefully.
“The absolute class will be very hard as everyone will give it everything. It will be good to watch and I’m sure fans will enjoy a lot.
“The fights are of six minutes durations and that’s too fast, and one mistake means you will pay a heavy price.”
Almeida took an early lead over Trans from a pull-down and then preserved it until the end to extend his record to 6-0 over the Dane.
“I don’t know where I’m going wrong,” Trans said.
“He took me down in the beginning and simply controlled the fight.
“I have lost all the fights against him and I don’t know what the difference is. All I can say is he is the best right now. Maybe I can win against him when I cross his path again in the world championships in Los Angeles next month.”
Despite arriving late for the tournament because of a flight delay Garcia was simply unstoppable. The 1.8-metre tall Brazilian controlled the final from beginning to end.
“I was bit nervous coming into the tournament as I had just had 10 hours rest as I got here late after my flight got cancelled. I was still feeling good out there and I’m extremely delighted,” she said.
“I worked really hard, as I do every year, to come down and win in Abu Dhabi. I still have a title to defend and hopefully I can stay in good health and achieve that goal.”
Defeat left Garcia’s opponent Nascimento in tears.
It was the second time she has lost to the same opponent in Abu Dhabi having met her in the second round in the absolute class last year.
“I was meeting her for the first time in a final and I really wanted to win,” she said.
“This time I really trained so hard. When I come to tournaments I come really prepared and I really wanted to win here, but she proved too good for me and so I’m really disappointed.”
The Brazilians once again dominated the black-belt categories by winning four of the five weight divisions in the men and three of the four titles in the women’s.
Gianni Grippo of the United States took the 65kg from Brazilian Isaque Paiva and Mackenzie Dern bagged another for the US in the women’s 55kg, defeating Michelle Nicolini of Brazil.
Lucas Lepri (75kg), Leandro Nascimento (85kg), and Felipe Pena (95kg) were the other winners in the black belt in the all-Brazilian finals.
In the women’s division, Beatriz Mesquita retained her 65kg title and Monique Elias won the 75kg.
The finals were again all-Brazilian affairs.
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