The 2021 IBJJF No-Gi Pan American Championship took place in Dallas, Texas over the weekend. Atos finished with 8 gold, 4 silver, and 7 bronze. Here’s a look at some of the highlights from the weekend.
Tal Dayan Wins Double Gold
After 5 matches Tal Dayan took home gold in both the juvenile 2 middle weight division and the open class. He frequents IBJJF opens, and racks up medals which earned him the number one seed in his division. After a bye in the first round, Tal won his first match by straight ankle lock in the opening minute of the round. He proceeded to win the rest of his rounds on points, with none scored against him.
Tal is an Atos athlete who hails from Israel. With a dream to become a world champ he makes the long trek to spend 3 months at a time in San Diego to train at Atos HQ preparing for the biggest tournaments in the world. Soon, he will be living in San Diego full time to actualize his dream.
Daniel Sathler Subs His Way to the Top
After just receiving his brown belt one week ago Daniel Sathler earned gold in the brown belt, lightweight division. Not only that, but he submitted his way to the top of the podium.
His first match was against a tough opponent. The score was 2-2 but Daniel was up on advantages for submission attempts. He was able to secure a tight guillotine, with the body triangle around his opponent limiting his opponent’s options for reprieve. His opponent opted to roll out of bounds, which in IBJJF is considered fleeing the submission, and resulted in a disqualification.
In the second round, Daniel secured a kneebar early in the match. And, in finals he was able to get the tap with a rear-naked choke. Similar to last weekend he was able to showcase his varied attacks and find the submission by any means necessary.
No Points Scored On Lucas Barbosa
After 8 matches Lucas Barbosa finished the weekend with no points scored on him. He scored a total of 44 points on his opponents and secured two submission victories, both by way of head and arm choke. His dominant performance earned him gold in the absolute division where he had 5 matches and closed out with teammate, Mike Perez, and a hard fought silver in the heavyweight division.
Victory is sweet, but is redemption sweeter? Lucas had an impressive run over the weekend, losing only by a split ref’s decision in the finals. However, he was able to get an immediate re-match his heavyweight finals opponent in the semifinal round of the absolutes. This time he secured the victory with a 2-0 score on his way to gold.