‘Hunger to compete has returned’: Jose Junior takes top prize at Fujairah Jiu-jitsu Open

Zayed Al Kaabi, a member of the UAE men’s team, he won a double in the purple belt, defeating compatriot Ibrahim Al Hosani in the 94kg final and Serbian Milos Mladenovic in the open class, writes Amith Passela.

Jose Junior, centre, flanked by Ricardo Evangelista, left, and Luis Venturino after the Fujairah Open last weekend. Courtesy UAEJJF

Jose Junior proved his victory over Ricardo Evangelista in the Ras Al Khaimah Jiu-Jitsu Open last December was no fluke after repeating the feat in the Fujairah Open over the weekend.

Junior, in fact, won the re-match more convincingly with a 6-0 score in an All-Brazilian final in the absolute class at the Khalifa Hall in Fujairah to improve his record to 2-1 over Evangelista.

He also completed a double having defeated Egyptian Tarek Matar earlier in the black belt absolute class in the No-Gi (without the traditional kimono) competition on the opening day.

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In their first meeting in the UAE, Junior suffered a semi-final defeat to Evangelista in the 94-kilogramme weight division but bounced back to claim the absolute class, both in the RAK Open in December.

“Since that win, I have worked harder with the hope of returning to full-time competition this season,” Junior said. “If I stay injury-free, the plan this season is to compete in the Sharjah Open in two weeks, the Grand Slam London in March, the Abu Dhabi World Professional Championships in April and the World Championships in California in June.

“I had to give up competing at the top flight because of work commitments but the hunger to compete has returned.

“Now I have managed to squeeze in more training time. It is tough, as I have to divide time between work and family to train long hours. I think I still have the old fire burning inside to return to top flight competition.”

Junior, 30, has appeared at the Abu Dhabi Pro four times and won two silver and a bronze medal. He skipped last year’s competition because of injury.

The two remaining finals in the black belt categories were also All-Brazilian affairs. Ygor Machado Dantas who defeated compatriot Luis Venturino in the 85kg men’s final and Marina Ribeiro took the women’s open weight final from Marcela Caiafa.

Zayed Al Kaabi was the pick of the Emiratis. A member of the UAE men’s team, he won a double in the purple belt, defeating compatriot Ibrahim Al Hosani in the 94kg final and Serbian Milos Mladenovic in the open class.

Shamsa Hasan and Shafaa Hassan, both members of the UAE women’s national team, emerged winners of their respective weight categories.

Shamsa got the better of Moroccan Issrine Chahdi in the blue belt 55kg final and Shefaa overcame Anita Mazar of Serbia in the white belt +70kg.

The Emiratis amassed 24 gold medals of the 49 that were up for grabs in the fourth domestic competition conducted by the UAEJJF after the Al Ain, Dubai and RAK Open.

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