McCoy claims Absolute class honours at Abu Dhabi Jiu-Jitsu Open Cup

Zayed Al Kaabi earns host team's lone gold medal during No Gi competition

Naser Barshid grapples with his opponent during their match at the Abu Dhabi Jiu-Jitsu Open Cup in Zayed Sports City on January 23, 2015. Delores Johnson / The National

ABU DHABI // Samuel McCoy enjoyed one of his best days in jiu-jitsu since moving to the UAE’s capital city more than 18 months ago.

The American won the gold in the black-belt Absolute class and silver in his 93-plus kilogram weight division in the Abu Dhabi Open No Gi competition on Friday night at the FGB Arena in Zayed Sports City.

McCoy, representing the Al Ain Jiu-Jitsu Club, overcame his earlier disappointment of going down to Brazilian Mauricio Lima in his weight division by carrying off the night’s biggest prize with victory in the Open final against another Brazilian, Filipe Bobrick.

“I was a bit disappointed that I won only silver in my regular weight, but winning the Absolute division more than made up for it,” McCoy said.

“It has been a pretty good season for me as I have medalled in every competition that I have participated up to now. Hopefully I can take this form forward as part of my preparation for the Abu Dhabi World Professional Championship in April.”

McCoy won silver in his weight category in Dubai, bronze in Al Ain and gold in Ras Al Khaimah in the open competitions conducted by the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation.

The American, 33, had been practising the martial art for more than 12 years in Miami before arriving in Abu Dhabi.

He is a jiu-jitsu instructor at the Sultan bin Zayed School in Al Ain and has also been working for Palms Sports, the technical arm of the UAEJJF, for the past 18 months.

McCoy’s first visit to the UAE capital was in 2010 to participate in the Abu Dhabi World Professional Championship (brown belt) after qualifying from the trials in the United States.

“I fell in love with the place,” he said. “I was a police officer at that time, and I decided to come down on visits to take part in the local competitions and was offered this job.”

McCoy has decided to skip Saturday’s Gi competition to recover from the six bouts he had to go through to win the gold and silver last night.

“I like the Gi competition more than the No Gi, but it was very tough out there today and I don’t think I have much time to recover for another competition,” he said.

Zayed Al Kaabi was the host team’s only gold medallist on the night, but they amassed seven silver medals and seven bronze from the 31 different weight and belt divisions.

The Emirati, a gold medallist at the Asian Beach Games in Phuket last November, won his 93kg weight class in the purple belt defeating Mohamad Mari of Syria in the final.

Anatolii Smyrski, 30, a Dubai-based Ukrainian, has been practising the sport for only 10 months, but he grabbed a double gold, winning his 93kg weight division and the Open class in the white belt.

“I came to work in Dubai as a fitness trainer and took up jiu-jitsu because it was very popular here,” he said.

Smyrski won a silver medal on his jiu-jitsu debut at the Dubai Open last September, then won a gold, silver and bronze in Al Ain, plus two gold, a bronze and a silver each in Ras Al Khaimah.

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