Days after snapping up another gold medal for his collection in the senior 2 division of the International Master competition, Alexandre “Gigi” Paiva plowed head on into new conquests.
In Europe, where he is on a seminar tour with his prodigy Fernando Tererê, Gigi sent good news from Poland, a land renowned for his tough inhabitants.
“I just gave a black belt to the best grappler in Poland, my student Radek Turek. He’s actually the best grappler in Europe,” he tells GRACIEMAG.com with exclusivity.
For those for whom the Polish name doesn’t ring a bell, Paiva reminds us: “He’s been winning the European ADCC trials for the last few years, winning both at weight and absolute. And he’s won all the no-gi championships in Europe in recent years. He fought in the latest ADCC’s and isn’t even a black belt yet.
Turek isn’t Gigi’s first black belt in the country, having already promoted his student Sebastian Slowek. The teacher made the most of the dialogue to issue an alert.
“Those two have been my students for more than nine years, they deserved the promotion. I see there’s a group that comes here to Europe to do seminars and ends up giving belts to all the participants. I don’t promote anyone in seminars where I don’t know the students. Keep alert, advertising seminars by giving new belts is like spitting in the plate we eat from.
