Brazil Starts to Compete in the World Cadet Championships with Three Pan-American Champions

The competition starts this Thursday in the categories extra lightweight and lightweight. Juliana Rodrigues, Thais Kondo and Kainan Pires will defend the Brazilian colors.

This Wednesday there were drawn the keys for the World Cadet Championships, which begins on Thursday in Miami, United States. The ten Brazilians who will compete know already their ways up the medals. The first to fight are the athletes from the extra lightweight and lightweight. Kainan Pires (50kg / SP), Juliana Rodrigues (40kg / ES) and Thais Kondo (44kg / PR) are head-keys because of having won the last month’s Pan-American Championship in Buenos Aires.

Kainan fights first against Elnur Abbasov from Azerbaijan in the quarter-finals. He is considered one of the possible awarded athletes apart from the home’s judoka, the American Brian Abreu and Dutch Matthijs Van Harten, bronze awarded in the European Youth Olympic Festival.

\"We are well prepared because we participated in International tournaments and we wish a lot to get these medals for Brazil! I\'ll do my best not to disappoint anyone who is supporting me, \"said Kainan Pires.

Juliana Rodrigues has to face an obstacle right in the beginning because she will fight against the winner of the competition between the Mongolian Otgontsetseg Bayarkhuu and the Japanese Honoka Yamauchi. The Brazilian athlete, who is the Pan-American champion and bronze awarded in the European Cup of Pitesti / ROM, and the Japanese, who won the gold at the European Cup of Berlin, are considered by the experts among the favorites together with the 15 year-old Azerbaijani, Leyla Alyeva, who is already an European champion, and the French Marine Gilly, silver awarded at the European competition.

Thais Kondo, who is also a Pan American champion, will fight against the winner of the contest between the Colombian Yulieth Diaz and the Canadian Marie Bresson. The favorite in the category, however, are the Dutch Amber Gersjers, the South Korean Kim Jaeryeong and the Japanese Mari Suzuki. If Thais wins the first fight, she will face the South Korean opponent.

The fights in Doral Legends Ballroom start at eleven o\'clock Brasília time zone and the last blocks (the fights for medals) at 18h00. On Friday, Brazil will be represented by Layana Colman (52kg / MS) and Rodrigo Lopes (60kg / RJ). On Saturday, Gabriela Bittencourt (57kg / SP) and José Basile (73kg / SP) will enter the tatami. And on Sunday, the Brazilian participation will end with Aine Schmidt (70kg / SP); Ellen Furtado (+70 kg / SP) and Hugo Praxedes (+90 kg / SP).