Samuel Hertzog Canquerino in action at WPJJC 2012 / Photo: Ivan Trindade/GRACIEMAG.com
Flying in under the radar, the Jiu-Jitsu black belt Samuel Canquerino routed Raphael dos Santos by 15 to 0 in the under-70 kg-division final at the Abu Dhabi WPJJC. The Caxias do Sul, Brazil native made it past Megaton and Isaque Paiva and ended up winning it all “in his own backyard.”
“Winning this competition was marvelous for me, since I work in the emirates—just not in the pretty and luxurious part. I live and teach Jiu-Jitsu in the middle of the desert in the town of Madinat Zayed, and the kids I teach don’t live in the swanky world the big city kids do,” said Samuel in introduction.
“I don’t have all that many people with whom to train; often I have to do my physical conditioning workouts on the playthings at the local park! What’s more, I make a 250-km trip back and forth to Abu Dhabi twice a week to train with the folks there. Fans sometimes think the teachers here don’t have the capacity for elite competition, but now this title proves them wrong: two other teachers and I medaled. We’re here to prove we’ve got what it takes in competition too,” the 27-year-old teacher told GRACIEMAG.com.
A representative of Sul Jiu-Jitsu team, Samuel won all his matches using his favorite move—the sweep. “The bracket was really thorny, and that just makes my winning all the more worthy. I beat Megaton by 2-0, with a half-guard sweep using the lapel and a hook. Then against Isaque Paiva I swept from 50/50 guard, not to mention withstanding a really tight triangle. Now in the final, against Raphael, I started out with a sweep from 50/50 and then passed, mounted and got his back,” recounted Canquerino, who has some sweep tips to share with our reader/practitioners.
“HALF-GUARD UNDERHOOK, ATTACK FIRST”
When it comes to sweeps from either half- or 50/50 guard, Samuel doesn’t try to keep his tactics under wraps:
“In half-guard, when going under, I feel it is indispensable that you not let the opponent pummel an underhook on the outside arm, since it lets him sprawl, and you lose mobility. It makes it harder to slide under, and depending on how much pressure he applies, you’r
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