A tragic event happened on Saturday at a BJJ competition in Poznan, Poland: Marek Jakubowicz., one of the competitors collapsed and died. This is the first such case in the history of grappling competitions in Poland and a big blow to the Polish BJJ community.
This happened in the same venue in Lublon (near Poznan) as the Poznan IBJJF Open. The competitor collapsed some time after his match, as he was waiting for his medal. Rescuers were not able to revive him and he died on the spot.
According to bjjfanatics.pl, yesterday was the funeral and more than 200 people with family and close friends came to pay their respects. Alliance BJJ Poland and other clubs were present as well.
Marek’s instructor, Sebastian Slowek had a very nice gesture: he handed him his gold medal won at the Open Gi 2016 what is more importantly, he promoted him posthumously to black belt in BJJ , which makes Mark the 195th Polish black belt .
” We are waiting for the official certificate from our master Alexander Paiva “ -Sebastian stated.
The BJJEE editorial staff wishes to express our deepest condolences and sympathy to the family and the deceased.
If you want to help Marek’s family, you can donate to their Gofundme.
This is the first known case worldwide of a death during a BJJ tournament. Last year in Sweden a BJJ practitioner died during training.
