Brazil Leaves the Grand Prix Qingdao with Seven Medals

Gabriel Santos (+100 kg) wins the silver medal whereas Rafael Buzacarini (100kg) brings us the bronze on the last day of the tournament

Brazil competed in the Grand Prix from Qingdao with a fairly young team, most of which was composed of athletes who participated in the World Judo Senior Championships, held in Rio de Janeiro. The overall performance of the athletes who have been participating to an international contest for the first time was good. Seven medals have been won - two silver and five bronze - two awards were won on Friday, the last day of competitions. Rafael Buzacarini (100kg ) won the bronze and Gabriel Santos ( +100 kg ) the silver, in the last fight of the competition .

And Gabriel’s path to the decision was very good. He won three games - against the Chinese Shuo Wang, against Po Yen Lee from Taipei and Liu Jian (CHN) - by ippon. In the decision, he faced another Chinese counterpart. But Zhang Lei gave no chance to his rival from Bahia and after immobilizing him, he took the gold.

\"I think I did a good competition in the beginning, but in the end I could not defeat my opponent. I was very happy with my first international medal, but then I’ve got sad thinking that I could have done a little more in the decision. I am very grateful to BJC for the granted opportunity, \"said Gabriel. 

Rafael Buzacarini, one of the few Brazilian participants with international experience along the senior national team, had a shorter way to the podium. In the first round in the competition, he defeated the Chinese Zhao Dongming by ippon. In the semifinal, he was defeated himself by the German Karl - Richard Frey - who was to become the champion of his category - by a wazari and yuko. In the fight for bronze, he won over the Mongolian Enkhbat Erdenebileg by wazari.

\"This experience has been new to me because I have never fought against a Chinese athlete. I think I managed to fight well against my Asian counterpart s. In the semifinal, I changed the strategy used in the last fight against the German, but unfortunately I did not manage to win. I\'m sure I\'ll fight against him again, but next time I will be more prepared and physically fit, and which will lead to a different outcome. \"said Buzacarini.

Eduardo Gonçalves (90kg) and Isadora Pereira (78kg) , the other two Brazilians who competed on the GP’s last day did not reach the fight for medals . The other silver was brought by Rafaela Silva (57kg) and the bronze awards were won by Milena Mendes (52kg), Tamires Crude (57kg) , Eduardo Katsuhiro (73kg and Vinicius Panini  (81kg).

The team’s next challenge is the Grand Prix from Abu Dhabi and, at the end of the year, the Grand Slam from Tokyo. Among the Brazilian judo events, the National Grand Prix Interclub is considered as one of the most important contests held at the end of November. The men’s team compete in São Paulo on November 16^th and 17^th whereas the women’s go to Porto Alegre from November 23^rd to 24^th. The Selection Rio 2016 - Stage II, which gives access to the senior team from 2014, ends the annual judo schedule 2013 and it will be organized from December 13^th to December 15^th.