Ricardo Evangelista aims to continue his sensational medal-winning form this weekend when he returns to UAE competition at the RAK Open.
The Abu Dhabi-based Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor won two gold medals at the recent Grand Slam Rio de Janeiro to take his season tally to four victories in four competitions.
Evangelista started the season by winning the Dubai Open in October and a week later struck gold at the Grand Slam Los Angeles, the second stop of the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation’s World Tour.
Having recently returned from Rio, Evangelista is back in action straightaway, competing in the RAK Open at the Ras Al Khaimah Educational Zone auditorium today and tomorrow.
“I returned in good shape and feel great to take my chance on winning another title, hopefully,” he said. “My objective from the start of the season was to compete in as many competitions as possible to improve my ranking under the new ranking system introduced by the UAEJJF.”
Looking back on his success in Brazil, Evangelista, who had to go through eight bouts in both his 94-kilogramme weight category and the absolute class in one day to complete the double gold, said the competition at Rio was the “toughest of all so far this season”.
“If you want to win both titles you have to be prepared to face such kind of competitions,” he said. “I was fortunate to go through my fights without any injury. It was tough but rewarding at the end.”
Evangelista won the black belt 94kg final with an arm-bar on compatriot Victor Honorio and clinched the open-weight final, against another Brazilian, Herico Pinto, by choke hold.
The Brazilians dominated the Rio Grand Slam, winning 86 of the 95 finals.
Emiratis bagged seven gold medals and Argentina and Peru one apiece.
The highlights for the UAE were the double golds of Yahya Mansour in the Masters-1 brown belt 94kg-plus and the open weight, and Mohammed Al Qubais’s gold in the 77kg brown belt Masters-1.
Hamdan Ahmed Al Blooshi bagged a bronze in the blue belt and Zayed Saif Al Mansoori, Naser Omar Barshid, Zayed Omar Al Breiki and Ibrahim Abdullah Al Naqbi each took home a gold in the white-belt category.
The UAE also added two silver and two bronze medals in white belt for a total of 12 medals from the two days of competition.
Matching Evangelista’s feat in Rio was Tayane Porfirio Arajou, who won two golds in the women’s division.
Arajou got the better of compatriot Claudia Val 2-0 in 70kg-plus final and later outscored American Tammy Griego 13-0 for the absolute gold medal.
apassela@thenational.ae
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