The full lineup of six elite grapplers representing team Asia and Oceania at the Polaris Squads Intercontinental Championship 2025 have now been announced. It was always going to be tough to put together a top team from that area of the world, just because the sport is so much less popular there. The Polaris matchmakers have done excellent work though, as it looks like they’re going to be a real threat in the tournament. The problem is that their opening round match is going to be against South America at Polaris 33, and that’s the continent that actually has the biggest talent pool of Jiu-Jitsu competitors to choose from.
The first man announced for the team was Kit Dale, who has actually competed for Polaris before around ten years ago. He isn’t the only Australian in the team either, as Lucas Kanard will be making his Polaris debut as a member of the team. The other four competitors all hail from Asia rather than Oceania, and they’re all going to be just as dangerous as Dale and Kanard. Kenta Iwamoto is probably the biggest threat, but Igor Tanabe is a very well-rounded grappler who could take anyone out. Rounding out the lineup is Tommy Yip and Hejraat Rashid; who might not be as well-known as their teammates are both capable of springing some surprises.
The team will be focusing on their preparation for Polaris 33 on September 13th of course, but they’ll likely have one eye on the final as well. There’s no date confirmed for it yet but it will be before the end of the year, and they already know who their opponents will be if they make it there. Europe beat North America by a decent margin back at Polaris 31 at the beginning of the year and although there might be a few changes, most of the competitors will likely remain the same. Asia and Oceania will have to get through South America first though, and they can’t afford to look past them too much.
Polaris announced the full Asia and Oceania lineup for the Polaris Squads Intercontinental Championship 2025 in a series of recent posts to their official Instagram account:
