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The Machado Asia Pacific Titles are over for another year. As with previous years Advance had a strong team in attendance, with 7 Athletes stepping up to test their mettle against Asia Pacific's best. Quentin Taylor, Brett Page, and Stu Gray all performed extremely well in the purple belt divisions. Brett scored an awesome standing sweep in his first match where he caught his opponent momentarily with one leg in the air. Brett swooped and knocked the other leg aside sending his opponent crashing to the ground and scoring the points. Brett went on to score a hard fought and well earned bronze medal in a division stacked with talent. Stu Gray put in an awesome performance dominating his matches until, he was a little unlucky to have his match stopped early - Stu the consummate gentleman and good sportsman took this set back in his stride. Stu shone with pride as he was presented with a silver medal - well done mate.
Quentin Taylor was unlucky to come up against a tough opponent in his first match - he got caught in a triangle attempt early on in his match - and spent the remainder of the 7 minutes defending that position - it was a zero-zero draw with Quentin losing by an advantage. He later took on another tough opponent and was unlucky to lose. He put in a solid performance that demonstrated skill, stamina, and determination - a great effort mate, we are all proud of your indomitable attitude.
The blue belt division saw Kale Cheeseman and the battle hardened veteran Sam Russell carry the flag for team Advance. Both guys came up against eventual winners in their first round, and put in very solid and creditable performances. Sam pulled off some classic poses throughout his match.
Warren Darragh, scored a workman like 5 - 0 victory in the final of the brown belt masters division to bring home the gold medal.
Coach Matt Cooper put on a grappling clinic to take out gold in the 94kg+ black belt division - completely dominating the final match with solid BJJ basics - this match was refereed by Rigan Machado himself. A true leaders performance. Fantastic effort coach!
The overall medal tally was - Gold:2, Silver:1, Bronze:1.
The highlight of the event was the outstanding degree of team spirit and camaraderie displayed by team Advance - when an Advance team member was competing - they enjoyed the most vocal support.
The weekend was a great success and all of the participants had a great time - including enjoying a couple of informal social events off the mat. Regardless of the outcome of matches all of the participants learnt a lot from the experience and will be better grapplers for it. They are all to be congratulated for stepping up and putting their egos on the line. For those of you who haven't made the trip to Melbourne you should take the time to have a chat with those who have. Put it on your bucket list!
For those who want to go next year - start planning now!
Official results can be found here. |
Everyone is invited to attend our own version of Oktoberfest on Saturday, 15 October at the gym.
