Mea culpa. Because the focus is so much in the adult black belt division, we sometimes forget how many huge names were present at the masters division at the 2016 Pan.
We pay homage to all of those great competitors and look back into 5 big moments that took place this weekend at the Bren Events Center.
1. Xande Ribeiro won double gold at the master 1 division, winning both the superheavy division and the open class. Xande had to face two of the toughest opponents in Gustavo Pires and Rafael Barbosa. The seven-time world champion is still recovering from a chronic injury to his pubis, but has told our news team he’s still thinking of competing at the adult division at the 2016 Worlds.
2. Saulo Ribeiro awed the crowd with his flawless display of technique. The seoi nage on Chris Latino was an overall great moment of the 2016 Pan. Just like his brother, Saulo also won double gold, in his case at the master 3 division, winning the heavyweight and the open class.
Flavio Almeida
3. Gracie Barra’s Flavio Almeida divides his time between teaching classes, running GB Scottsdale, in Arizona, being one of the top executives in the GB network, not to mention father of two and husband. Well, somehow he found time to return to the competition circus. This weekend, after two years and a half rehabilitating from a torn knee ligament and surgery, Flavinho put a great showing in Irvine to win double gold at the master 2 division, topping the heavyweight and the open class.
4. Carlos Terrinha worked full time as a referee during all four days of the 2016 Pan. The Gracie Barra black belt took a break on Sunday morning to compete at the master 4 division. Terrinha put all the hours of demanding action refereeing hundreds of matches and went for it to win double gold at the medium-heavy and the open class.
5. You know that Wellington Megaton is the only person to have competed as a black belt in all of the editions of the world championship since 1996. What you don’t know is that Megaton is naturally a competitor at the master 5 division. Still competing close to the highest level possible, when Mega returns to his age group, he usually sweeps the division. That’s what happened this weekend, when Mega won double gold at the featherweight and the open class.
Here’s a photo gallery with some of the best moments of the masters division, which also had the presence of big names like Rodrigo Comprido, Bruno Bastos, Kurt Osiander, Cicero Costha, Ricardo Miller, Luiz Marrinha, Eduardo Telles, Rodrigo Medeiros, Walter Cascão, Roberto Traven, among others.
Click here for the full results of the 2016 Pan.
