Kyuzo has a new Euro Champ!

Last weekend we took a trip tp Barcelona for the European Masters event. Me, Padraig Mannion, Ryan Gallagher, and Sean King were the Kyuzo representatives on the mat for the event.

I was up first in the 94kg Black belts, and I was beaten by 2 advantages in a pretty dull match up. I’m happy not to have given up points at any stage but it was a bit of a snoozefest of a match that I might have done better in. Still, after a 2 year break from competing I’ll have lost the rust now.

Sean King was next in a really tough division. The light-feather brown belts sure can move, and luckily Sean packed his cardio. A tough first match was followed by a nip and tuck semi final which his opponent took on points. A bronze for Sean.

Padraig took on the brown belt light weights, and each match was a carbon copy of the last. Pull guard, arm bar, victory. The first submission win came in 14 seconds. The second took a little longer but with the same result, and the final may have gone 3 minutes before the arm bar came out.

You’ll learn the closed guard triangle arm bar he used to win gold in your first month of Jiu Jitsu!

Ryan’s purple belt division was a tough one, with probably every competitor capable of winning it from my scouting. A last gasp points win in the quarter finals meant Ryan was fighting for a place in the final, and it took an intervention from the video referee to eliminate Ryan, but left him carrying home a Bronze medal.

As well as the tournament, there was great craic as we explored Barcelona and hung out with people at the event. Masters competitors are so much more relaxed before and after, and there’s a great vibe.

On to the next one!

See you on the mat,

Barry