Rilion Gracie Ireland had 4 students take part in the IBJJF European Nogi Championships, which was held in Rome over 4 days.
They were:
TJ McMenamin(convoy)
Liam McBride (carrigart)
Valentin Ciobanu (Newtowncunningham)
Breandan Duggan (Letterkenny)
All four men represented the team very well they put in the hard yards leading up to this event and worked hard all year ’round.
TJ McMenamin took double gold. He topped the podium in the Brown belt master 5 medium heavy division and also took gold in the master 5 open weight class.
Valentin Ciobanu took silver in the purple belt master 3 light weight division
Liam won his first two fights, ending his second with a beautiful footlock. Unfortunately, he was knocked out of his bracket in his third match.
Breandan won his first match by points (17-0), but unfortunately, he was knocked out of the bracket in his 2nd match.
There were over 50 competitors in Liam’s bracket and 38 competitors in Breandan’s bracket.
Needless to say, they will be back again in the future.
