The second edition of the ADCC European, Middle-Eastern, and African trials has now come to a conclusion and seven more athletes have booked their place at the ADCC world championships 2022. The event featured a number of the same competitors who attempted to qualify in the previous year and there was plenty of athletes who managed to do better than before but in the end, there can only be one qualifier from each weightclass. This time around, qualification was also on the line for the female competitors and unfortunately for those who won the first edition, they were both unable to repeat that feat when it mattered most.
Peyton Letcher did get all the way to the final of the women’s under 60kg division but she was stopped by Norwegian black belt Julie Maele who will now be the one to attend the 2022 world championships. In the over 60kg division, Cyprus’ top competitor Eleftheria Christodolou emerged victorious in a tough division. In the men’s divisions, 66kg was won by another athlete from the British Isles as Ireland’s Sam McNally joins Wales’ own Ashley Williams. England’s top prospect Ross Nicholls wasn’t able to get the same results as he finished third at 77kg after going out in the semi-finals to the eventual winner, gi expert Tommy Langaker.
88kg was stacked with Polish powerhouses but in the end it was Portugese Bruno Lima and Finland’s Santeri Lilius who met in the final, with Lilius winning a close decision by the thinnest of margins. The under 99kg division had two exciting talents coming over from England in Owen Livesey and the German-born Freddie Vosgrone, but they ended up meeting in the semi-finals with Vosgrone retiring due to injury. Commonwealth games Judoka Livesey put in several dominant performances in the lead-up to the final but he was finished with a rear-naked choke by a South African purple belt under John Danaher, Luke Griffifth.
The biggest division of the tournament was also won by a colored belt student of Danaher’s, Daniel Manasoiu. Manasoiu submitted three of his four opponents over the course of the weekend, including in the final match against Chechnyan Freestyle wrestler Muslim Patsagirov. Up until that match, Patsagirov had never been taken down in submission grappling competition but Manasoiu managed to do so and quickly submitted him with a chest compression from scarf-hold.
Men’s ADCC European, Middle-Eastern & African Trials 2022 Qualifiers
-66kg Sam McNally
-77kg Tommy Langaker
-88kg Santeri Lilius
-99kg Luke Griffifth
+99kg Daniel Manasoiu
Women’s Qualifiers
-60kg Julie Maele
+60kg Eleftheria Christodolou
The full ADCC European, Middle-Eastern and African Trials 2022 replay will be available to watch on FloGrappling, click here to subscribe and watch.
