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Sandbagger At World Pro: Blue Belt Competes As White Belt & Wins Open Weight

Sandbagger At World Pro: Blue Belt Competes As White Belt & Wins Open Weight

 

Sandbagging is a term used in martial arts to denote a practitioner who competes at a skill-bracket deemed less rigorous than their actual level of competitive ability. The term is adopted similarly in golf and various forms of racing. In contrast to these sports however, it remains unclear whether the grappling “sandbagger” necessarily does so intentionally. For example, in Judo or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, where competition is generally divided by belt rank, a practitioner is conventionally not allowed to choose his or her own ranking and thus must compete at a level predetermined by his or her instructor.

This week at the Abu Dhabi World Pro a competitor from Khazakstan competed as a white when he was in fact already a blue belt Since late 2014. He ended up winning the white belt absolute.

Read statement from his coach on the matter.

Our friends from Pasandoguardia.com broke the story (in Spanish).

Here he is competing previously wearing his blue belt (bottom left):

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Pictures from his Instagram show that he was a blue belt from as far back as October 2014, as promoted by Gustavo Machado:

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The UAEJJF federation reacted by disqualifying the athlete and further actions are set to come.

  Sandbagging prohibitions: Some officiating organizations attempt to proactively curb the occurrence of sandbagging. These actions range from simple rule restrictions, such as the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation prohibiting those with a Judo black belt from competing in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu white belt divisions, to organizations such as the North American Grappling Association employing a special tracking system designed to record competitors nationally and potentially re-assign them to a higher skill-level in NAGA events.