3/28/2022 By: Danny O'Donnell

The Charleston International Open took place on March 26^th and 27^th with gi and no-gi divisions at the Charleston Area Convention Center in South Carolina. Black belts registered to compete included Hugo Marques, Italo Moura, Larissa Dias, Andre Gois, Murilo Santana, Matheus Diniz, Chloé McNally, and Roosevelt Souza.

Matheus Diniz of Alliance won heavyweight gold after two matches, beating Jeferson Guaresi in the semi-finals and Lucas Alves in the final. Jeferson would bounce back in the open class, winning three matches to take gold. His path to the top was not an easy one. In the first round he faced Roosevelt Souza and then beat Joao Marco Pedrosa de Albuquerque in the semi-finals. Jeferson’s opponent in the finals was Hugo Marques, who won lightweight gold earlier in the day. The win over Marques gave Jeferson the gold in the open class after earning bronze in his weight class.

Other black belt gold medalists on the day included Suraj Budhram at light-feather, Matias Estevez at feather, Andre Gois at middleweight, Sebastian Rodriguez at medium-heavy, Marcos Carrozzino at super heavy, and Roosevelt Souza at ultra-heavy.

In the adult female lightweight division, Taylor Sausser of R1NG BJJ won two matches to take gold. At medium heavy, Chloe McNally of Unity Jiu-Jitsu won two matches to take gold, beating Suellen Lima of GF Team in the final. Suellen later competed in the open class, where she had three matches for gold including a finals victory over Larissa Dias of MJN Jiu-Jitsu.

On Sunday March 27^th it was Vagner Rocha who won the no-gi adult male open class division. Vagner had two matches, beating Estevan Martinez in the final for gold. Ana Paula Cardoso do Nascimento took home gold in the no-gi adult female open class with a win over Haley Lyn Zahnow in the final.

2022 Charleston International Open team results:

1. Alliance
2. CheckMat
3. ZR Team Association

2022 Charleston International No-Gi Open team results:

1. Fight Sports
2. TDBJJ
3. Charlotte Jiu-Jitsu Academy

The next IBJJF event will be the Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championships taking place in Kissimmee, Florida from April 6^th through the 11^th.