The venue for the Dallas Open prior to the action / Ph: publicity/IBJJF
Two weeks after its conquest of the IBJJF’s Phoenix International Open, Nova União repeated the feat in Dallas. Led by Professor Bruno Bastos and before the eyes of team president in America Gustavo Dantas, the team went all the way, notching over a hundred points ahead of second-placed team Alliance.
Chased down by GRACIEMAG.com, Bruno commented on the achievement:
“I was expecting us to win, as we went in with a really big and strong team here in Dallas. I signed a lot of students up and had the help of my affiliates as well, beside some reinforcements from Robson Moura and Gustavo, who only brought three athletes from Arizona, but even so they made a difference,” said a jubilant Bastos.
“The gang fought really well, with kudos to Steve Rosenberg, runner-up in the absolute and winner of the lightweight division. Kaue Damasceno won at weight and open weight as a purple belt and Kristina Barlaan took weight and open weight in the purple belt female division. Better still, both finals were wars against another Nova União representative, Sue Ausman. Kelly Faszholz took her weight division and the absolute in the blue belt female category, while Arnold Monterroso came over from Arizona and won the blue belt light featherweight division. And there were plenty of others, in the master contest,” he recounted.
“Gustavo held a seminar on the day before where he gave a speech about the importance of being a part of a team and how we want to put in a lot of work to be sure we’ll always be fighting for the top spots, to win a World Championship again. That was great for the athletes,” he said in finishing.