Local teams rule jiu-jitsu tournament

TEAM Fabricio bagged the Masters Overall Champion while Team Deftac Ribeiro won Overall Champion recently as the local teams dominated the Pan Asian International Open Brazilian Jiu-jitsu championships recently at Mall of Asia Arena.

The two squads bested teams from Thailand, Guam, Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Borneo, China, and Japan during the three-day meet that drew more than 500 competitors.

The meet was organized by the BJJ Federation of the Philippines, which is hoping to get the sport out into the mainstream.

“Our goal is for BJJ to be a national mainstream sport with participants coming from all walks of life,” said BJJFP president Stephen Kamphuis.