The first Swiss Open of the year took place in Root (Lucerne) on 21 June 2009. A total of 70 grapplers from 8 teams (i.e., Yogaka MMA Academy, Yogaka Team Croatia, BTT Genève, Fight Gym Aarau, MMA Zürich, Gladiatoria, Base Concept Lausanne, and Sambo Fribourg) took part in the competition that was organized in a very friendly atmosphere at the Yogaka MMA Academy. The tournament was placed under the supervision of Mr. Rafael Perlungher (Head of Grappling Europe), Mr. Peter Mettler (FILA Grappling Instructor), Mrs. Anne Pellaud (FILA Non-Olympic Styles Manager), and Mr. Jason Townsend (Head of Grappling Pan-America) who was visiting Switzerland and contributed to the smooth running of the competition.

The competition started with a kid tournament with grapplers weighing from 16kg to 110kg who demonstrated that grappling can be practised by children without any harm or danger. The FILA international grappling rules were easily applied by the young participants and no injury was reported. The tournament then proceeded with the seniors who were divided into beginners and advanced groups in both Gi and No-Gi styles. The dominant force in the beginner division was the newly formed MMA team from Zürich that won 4 Gold and 1 Silver medals. The advanced division was dominated by the host team, Yogaka MMA Academy, that won 4 Gold, 2 Silver, and 3 Bronze medals, follwed by the Brazilian Top Team Geneva that demonstrated a very high technical level and won 3 Gold and 1 Silver medals.  The complete results can be downloaded at the following link.

The Swiss Grappling Committee is looking forward to developing the grappling activity in Switzerland and build a strong national team for the European Championship that will take place in Lithuania on 11-13 September 2009.