- Mendes brothers are through to the final. Poto: Carlos Ozório
The World Pro moves ahead with more riveting matches in Abu Dhabi, and anyone following GRACIEMAG on Twitter (@graciemag) didn’t miss a beat.
A total of 340 athletes representing 38 countries signed up for the event. Besides the 8 thousand dollar prize money to the winners of the weight groups, the open weight class will pay out 20 thousand. Even the diminutive Rafael and Guilherme Mendes are signed up.
Some fighters like Ricardo Demente and Pe de Chumbo faced bureaucratic problems, but made it to Abu Dhabi on time. In high esteem, even doing a training session with Sheikh Tahnoon at the royal palace, there was a special request for all of Braulio Estima’s matches to take place in ring 1, for television broadcast. A setback came in 2009’s winner of the event Rodolfo Vieira, who also won the qualifiers in Rio, injuring his knee, and was unable to recover on time. The men’s purple,
The purple to black belt men’s finals have been defined. Seven champions from the Brazilian qualifiers made it to the decider, against two there by invitation and one who paid his own way: Romulo Barral.
Men’s
Under 65 kg (143 lbs)
The Mendes brothers, Rafael and Guilherme, made it through to the finals, thus guaranteeing Atos Guetho the title.
Under 74 kg (163 lbs)
The final will between winners of the Rio de Janeiro and Gramado qualifiers Gilberto Durinho and Claudio Caloquinha, respectively. In the semifinal, Durinho had a tough match against Celsinho Venicius, the same opponent he faced in the tryout final in Rio. At the end of the match, with a few seconds remaining, he managed to make it to the back, similar to what happened the last time the two met.
Under 83 kg (183 lbs)
Bráulio Estima will have his work cut out for him in the fourth finalist from Atos in the event, Claudio Calasans. While Bráulio beat Guto Campos in the semifinal, Calasans overcame Delson Pe de Chumbo.
Under 92 kg (205 lbs)
Rômulo Barral had faith in his potential and hopped a flight to Abu Dhabi. The guard master’s game panned out and he is through to the final with Alexandro Ceconi.
Over 92 kg
Yet another promising final, featuring Ricardo Demente versus Gabriel Vella. While Vella, who won last weekend’s Pan-American, overcame burly brown belt Marcus Bochecha in the semifinal, with a mount, Demente had a hard task to handle: he swept Luiz “Big Mac”.