Brazil Wins Two Medals at the GP Ulaanbaatar

As the coaching commission was expecting, the Grand Prix Ulaanbatar had a very high technical level. Brazil ended the competition with two medals: silver won by the extra-lightweight Eric Takabatake and bronze awarded to the middleweight Maria Portela. On the last day of competition, Brazil was represented by Rafael Buzacarini (100kg), David Moura (+100 kg) and Claudirene Cezar (+78 kg) but they did not reach the contention for medals. It was the first time Brazil has participated in this competition.

"It was good for us to know a little more about the structure of Mongolia, a new world judo force, especially in the lighter weight categories. Now we have to take advantage of the training camp to continue evolving," Ney Wilson said.

David Moura (100kg), fifth positioned in the world ranking, was surprised by the Chinese Jian Liu in his first fight in the GP and Claudirene Cezar (+78 kg) failed to fit her best judo blows against the Russian Anna Balashova in her first fight. Rafael Buzacarini (100kg) faced a favorite competitor just from the beginning and ended up being defeated by the Olympic champion Tagir Khaibulaev, who eventually would win the title from Mongolia.

In July, the Brazilian team splits in some competitions. After the GP of Ulaanbaatar, in which eight athletes are participating, other Brazilians will participate in the Grand Slam of Tyumen, on 12^th and 13^th July, which is the last event point worth in the world rankings before the World Championships. Afterwards, the athletes go to Germany for a training camp held between July  17^th and 24^th.