After their training on Half Middleweight and Heavyweight categories, the athletes fly to Miami for the Grand Prix
The athletes are boarding to Miami next Wednesday (12/6). Two athletes from the National Team, well-known by the Brazilian fans, resume competition after one-year absence
It was this Friday when the training camp ended. National team’s athletes fighting on heavyweight and half heavyweight categories were training during the last five days, in São Paulo. Among the eleven judokas who were taking part in the camp, two of them have many reasons to celebrate: Hugo Pessanha (100kg) and Daniel Hernandes (+100 kg) resume representing Brazil after a long absence from the mat, due to severe injuries. Both of them are boarding together with sixteen more athletes, next Wednesday, June 12th, to the United States, where they are going to compete in Miami Grand Prix, on June 15th and 16th.
For Hugo Pessanha, the GP will be a resume since the last competition where he represented the National Team happened a year ago, last June, when he won the silver medal in Rio Grand Slam. Since then, he had been recovering for several months from an injury of a torn ligament in his right knee and working to be fit physically and technically for the competition.
\"Miami Grand Prix means for me a real debut in the new weight category after one year off. During my recovery from surgery, I was lucky to have the support of my club mates, Bruno Altoé and Luciano Correa. They helped me with good practice both in Minas and here, with the National Team. But, as the soccer jargon is saying, training is training and game is game. I\'m feeling well prepared and I hope to make a good presentation when resuming.\" Hugo said.
Daniel Hernandes is also back to the mat; he is going to compete in Miami after a long absence. However, Hernandes’s mission is even more complicated since the competition among the world\'s best heavyweight athletes is extremely tight. Rafael Silva, David Moura and Walter Santos are Top Ten, according to the latest IJF’s Ranking release. But the dispute is wholesome and the athlete from São Paulo, training at Pinheiros Club, considered that it was a very good opportunity to be training with opponents this week, in order to become fitter and more skilled.
\"My last competition was the last year’s Rio Grand Slam. After almost one-year break, I took the opportunity of this week to train with the best Brazilian heavyweight athletes to improve and score a favorable outcome in Miami. It is not good for me fighting against such well-prepared guys on the same weight category because it is going to be much harder to get to similar positions in the World Ranking. On the other hand, I\'m glad for the Brazilian judo. In the long run, this internal competition will make the whole category evolve, \"said Daniel Hernandez, bronze awarded in GS Rio 2012 and holding currently the 35th position in the World Ranking.
According to the official program of Miami Grand Prix, the draw of the fights takes place on Friday, June 14th, at 3 p.m., Brasilia time zone. On Saturday, June 15th, starting from 10:30 a.m., women’s categories 48kg, 52kg, 57kg, 63kg and men\'s 60kg, 66kg and 73kg are going to fight. On Sunday, June 16th, at the same time, the women’s weight categories of 70kg, 78kg, +78 kg and the male athletes of 81kg, 90kg, 100kg and +100 kg are getting on the mat. The medal competition (final block) on both days is scheduled at 6 p.m. (Brasilia time zone) in Doral Legends Ballroom. After this competition, the National Team is going to start a training period for San Salvador Continental Cup.
The Brazilian Judo National Team is boarding next Wednesday, June 12th, to the United States. The delegation will be divided into three groups: Raquel Silva (52kg), Bárbara Timo (70kg) and Mauro Moura (81kg) are outbounding from Rio (flight AA 0904 American Airlines at 08:05p.m.); Nathália Brígida (48kg), Mariana Silva ( 63kg), Alex Pombo (73kg) and Hugo Pessanha (100kg) are leaving from Belo Horizonte (flight AA 0992 American Airlines at 09:45p.m.) and from São Paulo (flight AA 0998 American Airlines 10:30 p.m.) Flávia Gomes (57kg), Eric Takabatake (60kg), Luiz Revite (66kg), Leandro Cunha (66kg), Eduardo Santos (90kg), Rafael Buzacarini (100kg), Daniel Hernandes (+100 kg) and Walter Santos (+100 kg). The Brazilian team also includes Mariana Barros (63kg), Breno Alves (60kg) and Felipe Costa (81kg). The technical committee will be composed of Amadeu Moura, Head of Delegation; Fulvio Miyata, Coach; Yuko Fujii, Coach; Tathiana Parmigiano, Doctor; and Roberta Mattar, Physiotherapist.
