50/50 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Fifty/50 Ladies + Phil Brown put on a great performance at the traditionally most difficult “Open” event in the IBJJF calendar.

IBJJF New York International Open
Manhattan, NY
4/21/12

Jen Flannery, Megan Lomonof, Phillip Brown, and Leah Buckley lead the way for Fifty/50 in New York, putting in excellent performances on the way to earning four golds and one silver medal.

Fifty/50 BJJ Women's Team at NY Open 2012

Women’s Team head coach, Jen Flannery, defeated 2011 blue belt world champion Tess Kovitprakornkul (Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu) via closed guard armlock in the opening minutes of her first round match. In the final, she faced an old foe in Melissa Biscardi (Toronto BJJ), the 2009 blue belt Mundial champion and 2010 Pan American medalist at purple. Jen continued to show an edge over her tough opponent, though, improving to 4-0 against Biscardi with a shutout victory on points to earn the gold.

In the open class, Jen faced off against the eventual champion, a much larger Jhalan Lohoni (Toronto BJJ). Jennie showed the improvements in her guard by controlling and sweeping the bigger fighter, and nearly passed to the back on multiple occasions. Jhalan was too much this time, though, as she was able to snag Jen’s arm in the closing minutes of the match and erase the deficit on the scorecards, leaving Jen with a bronze.

Leah Buckley showed off a sharp and aggressive game in her first competition as a blue belt, taking a silver medal in the adult blue belt lightweight division. Leah fought two tough matches to make the final and even though she showed her inexperience this time out in coming up a little short, she acquitted herself very well.

Eager to erase memories of an uncharacteristic medal-less Pan American tournament, Megan Lomonof moved up in weight from light to middle and fought with her signature combination of heart and technique in earning the gold. Not satisfied, she headed into the Absolute (open weight) in search of her first double gold at a major event. She came up aces this time out, looking sharp and avenging her teammates’s loss in the final round by defeating Lakita Patterson (Lloyd Irvin) in spite of some truly awful refereeing that threatened a repeat of her Pan American experience (bogus points awarded against, no points awarded for clear scoring movements). Megan swept, passed her opponent’s guard, and demonstrated control for significantly longer than should have been required to earn her points and the Absolute gold.

Earning gold in the senior 1 (35-40 years old) class, Phillip Brown continues to put in strong performances at purple belt at every tournament he enters. Following up on his silver medal at the Pan American Championship, Phil fought tough against both of his opponents this weekend, utilizing his signature tight control game from the guard to take another IBJJF yellow medal.

Congratulations also go out to Ryan Clay and Jaan Hasan who had a series of hard-fought matches in spite of coming up short of a medal. They both showed the grit and attacking Jiu-Jitsu that Fifty/50 is known for, taking steps forward that will land them on a podium at an important tournament in the future.

With the Mundial only one month away, training is in full swing. It’s the tournament that separates the men from the boys (and the women from the girls) and is the focus of every serious gi Jiu-Jitsu player’s calendar. Stay tuned for developments and training updates ahead of this one.

Tags: ibjjf, Jaan Hasan, jen flannery, Leah Buckley, megan lomonof, new york, open, phil brown, ryan clay.
This entry was posted on Saturday, April 21st, 2012 at 5:52 am and is filed under Competition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.