{"id":405760,"date":"2024-02-05T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=405760"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Gold-for-Kitami-silver-for-Agda-s-return-to-Jiu-Jitsu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Gold-for-Kitami-silver-for-Agda-s-return-to-Jiu-Jitsu\/","title":{"rendered":"Gold for Kitami, silver for Agda\u2019s return to Jiu-Jitsu"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the ocean to the mat, Masaki Kitami continues to reel in the big ones as he brought home the gold medal in the 2024 Copa De Marianas Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Tournament last Saturday held in the University of Guam Fieldhouse.<\/p>\n

As for Kier Agda\u2014from the baseball diamond and back to the mats\u2014he snatched up silver in the Gi Tournament.<\/p>\n

In the Male White Belt Adult Rooster Division, the 23-year-old Kitami from Baret Submissions beat out Atos Jiu-Jitsu Guam\u2019s Jasper Eola via the guillotine submission in the gold medal match. In Kitami\u2019s first match, he held off his opponent via the triangle submission.<\/p>\n

Agda, in the Male Blue Belt Adult Ultra Heavy Division, faced off against Heights Academy Guam\u2019s James Guerrero, in the finals and lost via points. Agda originally entered in the 93kg Heavy Division, but no one else did, so instead of winning gold by default, decided to move up to the 100.2kg+ Ultra Heavy Division.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old Agda was the lightest in the four-man matchup at 97 kg, while his opponents were at 108 kg and up. He won his first match against Federated States of Micronesia\u2019s Joseph Reginalt via a bread cutter choke three minutes into the round.<\/p>\n

After years of hiatus from competing, Agda said his first match back on the mat \u201cfelt super great! Missed that feeling of competing in front of a crowd!\u201d As for how he felt about getting silver, he said he was content. \u201cBeing the lightest in that division, I really put myself to the test and battled it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Agda last competed as a white belt in the Asian Open Japan in 2018 where he won bronze. He went back to training jiu jitsu consistently again last November after three and a half years off.<\/p>\n

He said getting back into shape is what made him want to compete again, and \u201cat the age I am in right now, is the best time to be competing and making the most out of my athletic lifestyle! I\u2019ve always been a competitor, always up for a challenge. I only had two months of prep for this comp but I trained meticulously hard day in and day out.\u201d<\/p>\n

His next goal is to compete as much as possible this year just as long as he\u2019s injury free. He is looking forward to the Marianas Pro in Manila this April 20.<\/p>\n

He then thanked his team and training partners at Trench Tech and Latte Built, and his sponsors Skydive Saipan and Micronesian Air Cargo Services for making his trip possible. He also thanked his friends and family for their love and support.<\/p>\n

For Kitami\u2019s part, he said he\u2019s trained for a long time for the event with his good friend Jacob Yamagishi. They trained in his garage every night after work because they wanted to see what they could do in a different level of competition. He said winning the gold, \u201cI feel great and all the hard work paid off.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the competition, Kitami said he was nervous at first, \u201cbut with the help of my coaches helping me with confidence, it helped me a lot throughout my matches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kitami has been in the sport of jiu-jitsu since he was a junior in high school and as for what\u2019s next, he said they\u2019ll be back in the garage and learning new techniques.<\/p>\n

He thanked his friends, family, and Baret Submissions coaches Bryan Deleon Guerrero and Roman Cruz for helping him train. \u201cIt was an honor to represent Baret Submissions and take home gold,\u201d said Kitami.<\/p>\n

Two others from the CNMI\u2014Isaiah Sablan and Jacob Yamagishi\u2014joined Kitami and Agda in the competition and also brought home medals in their respective divisions. Results of those matches will be posted in the next issues of Saipan Tribune<\/em>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Gold medalist in the No-Gi Division, Masaki Kitami, center, poses with silver medalist Jasper Eola, and bronze medalist, Jaren Cruz in the Male White Belt Adult Rooster Division of the 2024 Copa De Marianas Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Gi\/No-Gi Tournament last Saturday held in the University of Guam Fieldhouse.<\/p>\n

-CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
<\/figcaption><\/figure>

<\/p>\n

From left, silver medalist of the Gi Division, Kier Agda, gold medalist James Guerrero, and bronze medalist Jordan Rosario in the Male Blue Belt Adult Ultra Heavy Division of the 2024 Copa De Marianas Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Gi\/No-Gi Tournament last Saturday held in the University of Guam Fieldhouse.<\/p>\n

-LEIGH GASES
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the ocean to the mat, Masaki Kitami continues to reel in the big ones…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-405760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405760\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}