Brazil Wins Four Medals on the First Day of Miami Grand Prix

Nathália Brigida and Eric Takabatake conquered the silver medal whereas Luiz Revite and Breno Alves the bronze

Nathália Brigida (48kg) nearly got her first gold medal in a world senior tournament, this Saturday night. The athlete from Minas Tennis Club, placed on the 46th position in the IJF’s ranking, defeated the top seed judoka, the Cuban Dayaris Mestre Alvarez, the fifth in the world, bronze-awarded in Masters Tyumen, right from the beginning of the fight. After this, Nathália defeated Kimberley Renicks (GBR) and, in the semifinal, Amelie Rosseneu (BEL), by Ippon. In the last fight, Brigida got three against Shidos, whereas the Hungarian Eva Csernoviczki only two and consequently managed to get the gold medal after a tough fight.

Eric Takabatake (60kg) was also awarded the silver medal. And with a great campaign: in three out of four fights previous to the final one, the Brazilian applied Ippon. His opponents who suffered the perfect blow werethe following athletes: Hernan Birbrier (ARG), Sergio Pessoa (CAN) and Ashley Mckenzie (GBR), against whom Eric applied the technique Osaekomi-waza. In the second fight, Javier Guedez had one additional punishment, compared to the Brazilian. In the final fight, Eric ended up with a Wazari applied by Kherlen Ganbold, and so won the second silver medal of the day.

Both Breno Alves (60kg) and Luiz Revite (66kg) brought bronze medals to Brazil. Breno started by applying Ippon on the American George Truong; then he defeated the Swiss Ludovic Chammartin for having one punishment less than his opponent, and after defeating Kherlen Ganbold (MGL) in the semifinal, the athlete applied again an Ippon against Sergio Pessoa (CAN), this time, in order to win a position on the GP’s podium. On the other hand, Revite began his journey, wining over the Chinese Yifan Yang by Wazari and Yuko; however, he could not defeat Yakub Shamilov (RUS) because he had two more penalties; in the repechage, he won the Belgian Gansbeke van Kenneth by Ippon, and got the medal when defeating the Portuguese Sergiu Oleinic by Yuko.

\"It got quite surprised with the level of competition. Brazil’s result was amazing because we got medals with very young athletes. Both Nathália Brigida (20 years old), who is the third Brazilian in the Ranking of her category, and Eric Takabatake (22) are gradually growing. It was very good, “analyzed the Performance Director of the National Team, Ney Professor Wilson.

The other Brazilian athletes who competed on that day won no medals. Raquel Silva (52kg) won over the American Mirelle Graves, but was defeated in the following fight with the Belgian Ilse Heylen; Leandro Cunha (66kg) was defeated by Batgerel Batsetseg; Flavia Gomes (57kg) defeated Melissa Rodriguez (ARG) but not Helene Receveaux (FRA) and in the repechage, she could not win over Connie Ramsay (GBR).

Alex Pombo and Bruno Costa Balla, both from the category up to 73kg, were defeated in the first fight, by Patrick Dawson (GBR) and Attila Ungvari (HUN), respectively.

In the category up to 63kg, Mariana Barros and Mariana Silva came up to the final block, but hit the crossbar. Mariana Barros won over Yixi Wang (CHI) and Martina Trajdos (GER), lost against Clarisse Agbegnenou (FRA) and Gevrise Emane (FRA), getting on the fifth place; Mariana Silva won Nicole Jenicek (CAN) and Hannah Martin (USA) but was defeated by Gevrise Emane (FRA) and Marijana Miskovic (CRO).

This Sunday, the mat is taken by the weights 70kg, 78kg, +78 kg and the athletes of 81kg, 90kg, 100kg and +100 kg. The Brazilian participation in Miami is finally represented by Barbara Timo (70kg), Mauro Moura (81kg), Felipe Costa (81kg), Eduardo Santos (90kg), Hugo Pessanha (100kg), Rafael Buzacarini (100kg), Daniel Hernandes (+100 kg) and Walter Santos (+100 kg).

\"Tomorrow we have some more experienced athletes such as Hugo Pessanha and Walter Santos. Hugo is a experienced athlete, but he hasn’t competed for a long time, then it must be good for him to feel the rhythm. Hopefully we can get more good results, \"concluded Professor Ney Wilson.

The medal dispute (final block) on both days is scheduled at 18h (Brasilia Time Zone) in Doral Legends Ballroom. After Miami Grand Prix, the team goes through a period of training in the United States and continues to dispute the Continental Cup in San Salvador, capital of El Salvador.

The updated keys for Saturday and Sunday are enclosed at the end of this article.