DATE: Saturday February 11, 2012
ADDRESS:1090 Vienna, Spitalgasse 14
This year’s Vienna Open Marks a new breath in bjj competitions in Austria. There were Austrian Opens in 2011 and in 2010. I participated in the Austrian Open in 2010, it was a well run competition but we had to share tha tatamis with a japanese ju-jutsu competition which started before the bjj one. Anyways Vienna Open organizers Sandro Santos “Pacoca “, Max Carvalho and Heinz Fridrich have informed me that this year’s Vienna Open will 100% bjj which is a great news.
So this is the first of a series of reviews that I will be doing for regional competitions. Last year I competed in the Croatian Open, Karlovac 4rivers Open, the Hungarian Open, the Serbian Open, the Slovenian Open, and now in january at the Europeans in Lisbon. So I have a some idea about who won what in the tournament circuit but I still have to refer to results of these past tournaments to pick favorites for the Vienna Open. Please bare with me if I don’t know some competitors.
The list of competitors is here: http://www.vienna-open.com/events.php
I will only review blue, purple and brown belts. And I won’t review female divisions at least for this one as I really don’t know enough about the female competitors.
Before we get to the brackets, keep in mind that this tournament is happening exactly 2 weeks after the European Open so may of the top competitors in the region will not be comepeting (at blue: Vojnovic, Nadarevic, Domanovic,Tadjanov, Bence, at purple/brown: Kvesic, Rajacic, Ikic, Salina, Culic, Ucovic, Huni, Kesic etc…).
This competition is also happening the same weekend as the ADCC Pro trial in Bucharest.
Adult male Blue-69,9kg
Contenders: Petr Vasicek, Jan Hovorka, Filip Macek
These three competitors are all from Gracie Barra Vienna and haven’t placed in any regional competitions or Europeans in 2011 so I really don’t know.
Adult male Blue -75,9kg
Contenders: Tabori Kristof (Gracie Barra Hungary), Martin Krenek (Jungle BJJ), Martin Mihajlov (Carlos Maia Macedonia),
This division has 15 competitors. Tabori Kristof (GB Hungary) competes a lot and won his division at the last Hungarian Open and competed at Croatian and Europeans, Martin Krenek of Jungle BJJ Prague got 3rd place inn Hungarian Open, and Martin Mihajlov placed 2nd at the Serbian Open. I see the gold going to Tabori Kristof this year by more experience.
Adult male Blue -82,2kg
Contenders: Uros Jurisic (Alliance Red Dragaon Slovenia), Miha Perhavec(Alliance Red Dragaon Slovenia) , Michael Rirsch (Orlando Neto BJJ).
This division has 12 competitors. Uros Jurisic placed 3rdat Hungarian Open, 1rst at Slovenian Open, and 3rd in Absolute. Miha Perhavec won the Serbian open, 3rd at Slovenian, but will be competing at a Heavy weight class than usual. Michael risch won the Croatian Open. I see uros Jurisic winning this, Michael Rirsch or Miha Perhavec placing second.
Adult Male Blue -88,3kg
Contenders: Andras Fazekas (Gracie Barra Hungary), Daniel Schaerf (Orlando Neto BJJ) , Rok Vrhovec (Gracie Barra Slovenia) , Edi Plava (Alliance Red Dragaon Slovenia) , Miro Erkapić (Leo Neves Osijek)
11 competitors. This is a stacked division with a lot of dangerous guys. I see Daniel Schaerf and Andras Fazekas as heavy favorites. Daniel Scaerf is a very athletic guy who won the Croatian and Slovenian Opens. Andras Fazekas placed second in almost every tournament in the region this year. The one missing here is division king David Vojnovic.
Adult Male Blue-94,3
Contenders: There 6 guys in this division but none of them have placed inn regional competitions in the Past. So I can’t really give an opinion. The divison king Asa Nadarevic is missing.
Adult Male Blue -100,3
Contenders: Sasa Milinkovic (Leo Neves Osijek), Arsan Asludin (Orlando Neto BJJ).
Division with 4 competitors. My favorite is Sasa Milinkovic (Leo Neves Osijek) who always places in every competition he competes in. Arsan Asludin I’ve never heard of but since he’s a Tchechen, I’;m guessing that he’s strong and dangerous 🙂
Adult Male Blue +100,3
Absolute:
Favorites are Sasa Milinkovic, Daniel Schaerf, Andras Fazekas and Uros Jurisic.
Purple/Brown Belt:
Adult male Purple/Brown -75,9kg
Contenders: Saso Sotlar (Gracie Barra Slovenia) and Velimir Rasic (Subos).
Both of these guys are pretty evenly matched. Velimir Rasic placed 2nd at Serbian Open, and Saso Sotlar second at Slovenian Open.
Adult male Purple -88,2kg
5 competitors in this mdivision. Most of them I haven’t seen before in competitions. I see the Very aggressive Tevz Erzen (Gracie Barra Slovenia) as the heavy favorite to win this division
Absolute Purple/ Brown:
Sloth Jiu-Jitsu: you can be slow and unathletic and still kick butt in Jiu-Jitsu.