Brazil Ends Its Participation in Astana Grand Prix with Two Medals
Today it was Brazil's second and last day of participation in Astana Grand Prix. Mariana Silva (63kg), Katherine Campos (63kg), Nadia Merli (70kg), Maria Portela (70kg) and Leandro Guilheiro (81kg) entered the mats early this Saturday, October 11th, but they ended up leaving the competition without medals. On Friday, Nathália Brigida (48kg) and Eleudis Valentim (52kg) won a silver medal and bronze one, respectively.
Mariana Silva finished in the seventh place, after three fights: she won the first one against Shor Rotem from Israel. In the second fight Kathrin Unterwurzacher from Astria was better than the Brazilian.Mariana even tried to get bronze in the repechage, but she lost to Martyna Trajdos from Germany and thus she left the competition in seventh place.
Maria Portela and Nadia Merli fought both in the middleweight category (70kg). Nadia Merli fought four times: in the qualifiers the athlete defeated Aizhan Kadyrbekova from Kazakhstan and her teammate Maria Portela. In the semifinal, Nadia was defeated by Bernadette Graf from Austria and she went to repechage for bronze. Being defeated by Laura Vargas Koch from Germany, the Brazilian left the competition in fifth place.
Maria Portela entered the mat three times. The judoka of Sogipa began well her participation in the tournament by defeating Valentina Maltseva from Russia, but eventually she got defeated herself by Nadia Merli and Megan Fletcher from Great Britain, finishing in seventh place.
Katherine Campos lost her first fight against Marian Urdabayeva from Kazakhstan, and did not continue the competition. Leandro Guilheiro overcame Shaxzod Sobirov from Uzbekistan in his first fight but then he was defeated by Alan Khubetsov from Russia, and he also left the competition early.
