After the Grand Slam in Baku, the Women's Team Boards for Japan
The team will be training for two weeks at the judo’s birthplace. The men's team comes back home on Thursday.
When it comes to judo, training with the strongest ones makes you stronger. And there is no better place for training such sport than Japan. That is why a few years ago the Brazilian team started to regularly participate in training sessions run at the judo’s birthplace. The men's team will be finishing a two week-period of training at the National Training Center and at Nippon Taiiku Daigaku, the University of Sports Science from Japan, on Thursday, May 14th. After reaching five fights for medals and winning gold and bronze at the Grand Slam of Baku, the women’s team flies directly to Tokyo, where they will begin the activities on Tuesday.
"Next stop: Japan! One’s evolution is constantly looking for better results. I thank for all the nice messages I’ve been receiving! Let’s go for it! "Maria Portela wrote on her official Facebook page, taking the opportunity to comment on the result of the GS quoting Henry Ford, the American entrepreneur. ”The fifth place in the Grand Slam of Baku tastes bitter, but the road is long and “failure is just an opportunity to begin again more intelligently."
The women's team will be made up of Sarah Menezes (48kg), Erika Miranda (52kg), Rafaela Silva (57kg), Mariana Silva (63kg), Ketleyn Quadros (63kg), Maria Portela (70kg), Barbara Timo (70kg), Samanta Soares (78kg) and Rochelle Nunes (+ 78kg). Besides the activities run at the traditional Ajinomoto National Center with the Japanese team, the judokas will also train at Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo. The technical committee will be formed by the coaches Rosicleia Campos and Mario Tsutsui, the nutritionist Roberta Lima, the physiotherapist Priscila Marques and the fitness coach Wagner Zaccani.
The men's team who’s coming this week back to Brazil is composed of Felipe Kitadai (60kg), Eric Takabatake (60kg), Charles Chibana (66kg), Alex Pombo (73kg), Victor Penalber (81kg), Rafael Macedo (81kg), Tiago Camilo (90kg), Luciano Correa (100kg), Rafael Silva (+ 100kg) and David Moura (+ 100kg) apart from the coaches Luiz Shinohara and Fulvio Miyata.
"Don’t be the same, be better," Takabatake posted on his page of a social network as a caption of a picture showing his training with a Japanese athlete.
"The fact of not being where you want to be should be enough motivation," heavyweight David Moura wrote as well as the caption of a photo.
The Brazilian team’s next appointment is the Training Camp to be held at the Pan American Judo Center located in Lauro de Freitas, Bahia, from May 27th to June 1st.
