Saipan Submissions gearing up for Guam Marianas Open

Saipan Submissions Academy is competing for the third time in the Guam Marianas Open Gi & No-Gi International Championship from Oct. 24-25 at the University of Guam Calvo Field House.

They are bringing a total of 15 competitors from the kids to the adult divisions. Makai Sablan will compete in Kid 2, White Belt, Light Featherweight (Gi); Hannah Kim will compete in White Belt, Featherweight (Gi & No-Gi); Aaden Das-Duenas will compete in Kid 3, Grey Belt, Middleweight (Gi & No-Gi), while Chance Attao will compete in Kid 3, Grey Belt, Heavyweight (Gi & No-Gi). Urijah Sablan will compete in Kid 3, Grey Belt, Lightweight (Gi), and Kaiya Pangelinan will compete in Kid 5, Yellow Belt, Middleweight (Gi & No-Gi).

Cornessa Dela Cruz will compete in Adult, White Belt, Heavyweight and Open Weight (Gi), while Momoko Halstead will compete in Adult, White Belt, Middleweight and Open Weight (No-Gi); John Villagomez will compete in Master 30, White Belt, Lightweight (Gi), and Shane Deleon Guerrero will compete in Master 30, White Belt, Middleweight and Open Weight (Gi & No-Gi).

Jesus Attao will compete in Adult, Blue Belt, Medium Heavy (Gi); Jacob Yamagishi will compete in Adult, Blue Belt, Lightweight (Gi & No-Gi), and James Garcia will compete in Adult, Blue Belt, Middleweight (Gi & No-Gi); Ciana Demapan will compete in Female Juvenile, Blue Belt, Middleweight and Open Weight (Gi & No-Gi); and Bryan Deleon Guerrero will compete in Adult, Black Belt, Featherweight (Gi) and Master 30 (No-Gi).

For this event, Saipan Submissions founder and head instructor Bryan Deleon Guerrero said they’ve been preparing for about three months. Competing in Guam, he said, “it’s pretty significant just because the sport is growing pretty rapidly. There’s a lot of competitors in Asia and America of course, but we want to showcase that the Marianas as a whole—Guam, Saipan, we’re raising good grapplers and we can hang with one of the best. This tournament is important to us.”

His expectations in the competition, Deleon Guerrero said, was that they’re going to do well. “Every year, we always bring a handful of medals. But it’s not only about the medals. It’s about their performance and showing that they’ve improved, win or lose. And I’ve seen the effort that they put in, and the hours that they’ve put in leading up to this so I know at the end regardless of whatever place it is, it’s going to be good results. So yeah, I’m excited.”

Before this competition, several competitions were held throughout the year across different countries to prepare for this main event. The first was the Copa de Marianas in Guam on Jan. 31; the Marianas Pro Nagoya on Mar. 14; the Marianas Pro Manila on April 25-26; the Marianas Pro Taiwan on May 30-31; the Marianas Pro Korea on June 6; the Marianas Dumau Open on June 20 in Guam; and the Marianas Pro Hong Kong on July 18-19.