Island Top Team athletes regularly win matches on Canada’s West Coast and the U.S. Pacific Northwest, but one competitor recently enjoyed some overseas success, too.
Anthony McPhail won three gold medals at an Abu Dhabi Combat Club event April 12 in Phuket, Thailand. McPhail entered three divisions – intermediate 83 kilogram, intermediate absolute and pro – and won all all his matches via submission.
“Pretty incredible for a single competitor who just received his purple belt a few months ago,” noted a club press release.
The previous month, Island Top Team instructor Rob Biernacki won the men’s masters 185-pound expert no gi division at Grappling Industries in Burnaby, and Quaid Harrison earned silver in the blue belt no gi division.
Back in February, Island Top Team had a contingent at the ADCC U.S. Open, where Matt Kwan won five matches, all via submission, to win the men’s advanced 76kg division and Biernacki moved up a weight class to compete in and win the 91kg men’s advanced masters division with two submission victories. Also at that event, Sarah Kolybaba took bronze in intermediate competition.
