Martial artists stun SA rivals

MILDURA’S jiu-jitsu clubs have confirmed the region’s growing reputation for martial arts dominance, coming home with a huge haul of medals from Sunday’s Grappling Industries event in Adelaide.

Mildura Martial Arts sent a team of more than a dozen athletes ranging from first-time white belt competitors to seasoned brown belts and came away with seven gold, 11 silver and seven bronze medals.

The team also took out the overall bronze medal for their kids’ team.

Lewis Florez, who took out silver in in the brown belt absolute division while juggling his responsibilities as team leader, praised the performance of the club.

“All the kids went out there and did awesome and ended up taking home the overall bronze medal,” he said.

“Lachlan Mendoza got double gold in his division and would’ve got triple gold but he unfortunately got DQ’d in one of his matches, but he smashed it; he’s a beast, he just took them down and controlled them.

“Anther notable was Alex Englefield who although he didn’t medal was competing against adults because he didn’t have anyone in his division and was so strong at passing their guards getting to side control and controlling them there.

“We also had the boys from Renmark Instinct BJJ come down with us and we had Chau Kaizen, all from our Born To Roll affiliation, all supporting each other and it was a really good time overall.

“I encourage people get down here and join up, it’s a fun environment and everyone is friendly.”

Mildura Brazilian Jiu Jitsu sent a smaller team of three juniors and came away with five bronze and a silver across both Gi and No Gi

“We only had three go over as it was one of the smaller competitions and we have a comp in a couple of weeks in Melbourne, but the kids did really well,” Coach Luke Burnham said.

“For Dash (Milne) and Izzy (Milne), it was their first comp, and they did great to get out there and have a crack and both brought home two bronze each.

“Young Eli (Southwell) had competed before and he had a really good day he had eight fights six wins and finished equal first in both division but lost on count back but it’s a good tune up for the one in two weeks.

“It was nerve-racking for the first timers they don’t understand how different it is when they get to a real comp so there’s those initial nerves and they don’t know what to expect but once they had that first fight out of the way they enjoyed it and want more now.”

The team is now preparing for the AFBJJ Oceania tournament in Melbourne on March 17.