Brazil Gets the Silver and the Bronze on the First Day in Santiago
Nathália Brígida (48kg) won the fight for the third place and Luiz Revite (66kg) took the silver in the decision against the world vice-champion.
Two of the four judokas who fought on Saturday at the Open de Santiago in Chile won medals for Brazil. Luiz Revite (66kg) took the silver and Nathália Brígida (48kg) the bronze.
The first to climb on the podium in the first day of competition, the extra-lightweight athlete was not successful in the fight against Diana Cobos (ECU), but she recovered in the repechage defeating the Colombian Viviana Gomez by ippon. In the contest for bronze, Nathália got an advantage of a shido against three of them got by the British Kimberley Renicks and got the medal.
Revite, on the other hand, managed to reach the contention for gold after defeating Ruben Martin (USA), Angel Hernandez (MEX) and Kamal Khan-Magomedov. In the final he faced a tough opponent as the current vice world champion, Mikhail Pulyaev (RUS) is, who had already eliminated Adriano Souza in the first fight. And by ippon, the Russian took the Brazilian the chance to climb to the highest position of the podium.
Newcomer in the senior team, Rafaela Barbosa (52kg) from the Amazon reached the repechage after beating the Dominican Maria Garcia and be overcome by one of the finalists in the category, the Russian Natalia Kuziutina. By ippon, Monica Hernandez Mexican did not let Rafaela follow in contention for the bronze.
The competition continues on Sunday, March 08th, and Brazil will have two athletes competing: Giovana Silva (70kg), newcomer in the senior team, and Rafael Buzacarini (100kg) who will try to get his second medal in the week, after winning silver on Sunday in the Warsaw Open.
